


Not Too Late to Learn

by bubblessunshinedelight



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alpha Cora Hale, Alpha Derek, Derek is a Good Boyfriend, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Feral Behavior, Hurt Stiles, Light Angst, M/M, Minor Violence, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Multiple, Possessed Scott McCall, Possible Polyamory, Scott is a Bad Friend, non-canon plot
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-21
Updated: 2018-09-17
Packaged: 2018-09-26 03:17:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 23,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9859751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bubblessunshinedelight/pseuds/bubblessunshinedelight
Summary: After 14 years Stiles realizes Scott doesn't really know him.orScott finds out Derek and Stiles are dating and is a dick about it...for a while.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So I haven't written anything in quite some time. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy it!

 

He wanted so badly to be able to relax and enjoy this moment, really he did. Here he is in his boyfriend’s arms, all warm and snuggly. A fresh hickey still tingling on his neck, and a Melissa McCarthy movie marathon well underway, but his mind kept wandering back to what happened yesterday. With stupid Scott. And his stupid accusations. And his stupid...stupidity!

\---

_ Contrary to popular belief Stiles does know how to spend his time quietly and mind his business all at the same time, which is what he was doing this Saturday morning. Derek had found another bestiary in his family's vault and had given it to Stiles, because he knew how much his boyfriend loved to absorb new information. Stiles was just in the middle of jotting down notes in the margins when he heard his front door slam open, causing him to drop his pen, and by the time footsteps started to thunder up the stairs he already had his bat in hand.  _

_ He let out a heavy sigh of relief, because it was just Scott who stormed into his room, and said “Dude, what the hell?” At the same time Scott yelled, “What is going on between you and Derek?!” _

_ It was silent and all Stiles could do was stare at Scott with wide eyes, and of course Scott took the his friend’s expression for a guilty one friends, and ran with it. _

_ “I knew he would do this! What is he blackmailing you with? Stiles, why didn’t you tell me? I can protect you!” Scott, who was pacing and running his fingers through his hair, now stopped in front of Stiles and grabbed his shoulders. He gave Stiles a little shake with that last sentence. _

_ Stiles himself is finding it a little hard to breathe as he’s hearing this, and starts to feel sick listening to Scott go on. _

_ “I thought I was going crazy, I smelled him at the diner and in your car the other day! Even in the Sheriff’s office!” Then he stops his pacing, his eyes go wide as rushes to grab on to Stiles' arms, and his next words make his friend sick. _

_ “Stiles is he threatening your dad? I can call Chris if we need to.” _

_ ”Shut up!” Stiles shoves Scott off of him. “Shut up! Just shut up! You don’t know anything! Dude, come on! Derek wouldn't- He's not _ _ \- we’re-” Stiles stops and takes a deep breath before continuing, “We’ve been dating. Okay. Dating since my birthday. That’s it. That’s all there is to it.” _

_ Scott, well, Scott looks like he’s going to be sick, like this is the last thing he’s ever wanted to hear. That's why Stiles tries not to be shocked, and fails when Scott asks, “Why?” _

_ "What do you mean ‘why’?” _

_ “As in why are you doing this? What is he holding over your head? I’m sure whatever crap you got yourself into with him can’t be that bad.” Stiles flinches, because that was uncalled for. So he musters up all the calm and patience he has. _

_ “Scott I’m going to say this only once, and afterwards I want you out of my house. Understood?” He doesn’t bother waiting for the other boy’s response, “Great. Derek and I, Stiles Stilinski, are dating. We have been doing so since my 18th birthday. You know, the one you missed 2 months ago.” Scott winces and opens his mouth, but Stiles puts his hand up. _

_ “This means we go out together, spend time together in public, which is why you have been “smelling” our scents together.” He used finger quotes and everything. _

_ “But what about at the Sheriff-.” Scott tried, but Stiles cut that thought off real quick. _

_ “My father is well aware and approves of our relationship, in fact Derek is applying to be a deputy. Now, I was having a really nice day until you came in and shat all over it.” _

_ Stiles walks past Scott and opens the door, “Now get the hell out my house.” Scott went to say something again, but Stiles beat him to it again. “Now!” _

\----

So that’s why Stiles was not all the way happy and feeling snuggled like he should be right now. He’s definitely not about to let Derek know about this just yet, either. That would open a whole other can of stress that he just doesn’t want in his life right now. So Stiles just pats Derek's beard when he feels him look at him concernedly again, and tells himself everything will be fine. Scott will get over it and accept his new relationship and everything will be right as rain in no time.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tell us how you really feel, Scott.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Erica and Boyd are alive, but they weren't taken by the Alpha Pack.

Everything is not fine, and nothing is right as rain. Scott still hasn’t gotten over the news, and Stiles can tell because Scott won’t stop looking at him with those sad eyes. Which turn into slits whenever he gets a whiff of Derek on him. And he refuses to talk about it with him anymore because if there’s one thing Scott is good at, it’s being stubborn. So Stiles puts his attention on more important things like getting his boyfriend and his betas to have a peaceful dinner together tonight. Stiles sighs because lately things have been much easier said than done.

Derek and his betas are a very sensitive subject right now for all parties involved. On one hand, his boyfriend is ecstatic that Boyd and Erica (let’s not get into Isaac right now) came back. On the other, he’s hurt that they left in the first place, and he understands he’s partly to blame because he didn’t explain all, the good and bad, that came with being a werewolf. However, his more _primal_ instincts only see his pack’s betrayal.

Then there’s Boyd and Erica who were tortured physically and mentally by Gerard, who is thankfully 10 feet under.  They feel bad about leaving but are also still a little bitter about all the false hope and broken promises they were given when they accepted the bite. The only person everyone seems to be able to communicate with about all this is Stiles.

Stiles, who now has a certain strawberry blonde tapping her foot at him. All because he made the mistake of thinking about how real the struggle is for him when he should’ve been listening to his queen lament on about the school official’s decision to hold prom in the gymnasium.

“Stiles, I know something has to be wrong with you if you’re zoning out on me. Regardless of the fact that you now have a beautiful boyfriend, you and I both know I will always be the leading lady in your life. As such, I demand to know what’s so important that it took your attention away from me.” She flipped her hair over her shoulder with a smirk getting Stiles to chuckle as he pushes off the lockers to walk alongside her.

“Well Lydia, light of my life, if you must know, I have an awkward dinner to plan and host tonight. I don’t even know what to cook, and if Scott walks by and sniffs me one more time I’ll make sure to fart while he does.” Stiles scrubs his hand on his face trying to stave off the headache he feels coming on.

Lydia scrunches up her face at that, “Well, as long as it’s not near me, I have no complaints. Your dimwitted friend is getting more annoying by the minute. I’m afraid he seems to think that he now qualifies as my friend because I’ve decided to spend my time with you.” Stiles feels his lips curl up at that because that is exactly what Scott thinks. He’s about to tell her so when her hand on his arm stops him from going around the corner. If Stiles were still as skinny as he was freshman year he’s sure her surprisingly strong grip would have cut off the circulation in his arm.

“Why are we stopping? We’re so close to the food, I can smell it.” Stiles is man enough to admit he’s whining, but in his defense, he’s still a growing boy and needs nourishment, but Lydia disagrees if her scoff is anything to go by.

“What you smell, is the downfall of health in America. Don’t think for one second that I’m letting you put that trash in your system. Besides, this is more important.” Her eyes are staring intently around the corner and when Stiles looks up he sees why. Scott is talking to Boyd and Erica, actually “talking at” is more appropriate. Erica looks one second away from dragging her claws down his face and Boyd looks like he’s contemplating whether or not it’d be more efficient to simply lift Scott up and out of the way. It’s clear Lydia is making no move to intervene the conversation, and she’s expecting Stiles to do the same. So he just slumps against the wall behind her and tunes into the conversation before them. One he’s sure is about how outrageous his relationship with Derek is. Awesome.

Scott seems to be right at the peak of his tirade at the moment, “If you guys were really Stiles’ “friends” then you’d tell him the truth about Derek.” He has that indignant look on his face is if that alone should convince the two in front of him. If anything it just makes their patience grow thinner.

“Scott, for the the love of all that is good, please shut the hell up!” Here come the puppy eyes again. “Honestly we don’t care about anything you have to say about their relationship, because A, it has nothing to do with you.” Lydia starts snapping her fingers at that, “B, the only reason you’re going on about it is because you weren’t the first to know about it.”

Scott rears back at that, “You knew before me!? How?” Boyd just huffs and rolls his eyes, he was done with the conversation before it even started.

“Everyone knew, you moron!” Erica’s nails are starting to look a little sharper. “Maybe if you acted like a real friend you would have known too. You’re only interested in two things; arguing with or about Derek, and Argent’s vagina. And now that her crazy ass is gone, all your efforts have gone to tearing Derek down.” Erica sticks her claw out to poke his chest menacingly, “And for your information, we are Stiles’ friends because we actually listen to him, unlike you who bitches at him then abandons him left and right.” Scott splutters like that’s not exactly what he does. Then he somehow is able to puff up his chest, a sure sign that he’s about to say something beyond stupid.

At this point Stiles and Lydia have heard enough and are about to walk away, trusting Erica to handle the situation. However, something about the change in Scott’s voice stops them in their tracks. “You guys can’t honestly expect me to believe that Derek would date Stiles, in fact he’s the _last_ person Derek would ever think about dating.” This finally gets Boyd to react with a low growl, while Erica is stunningly speechless. Any other time, Stiles would be touched by Boyd’s protectiveness, but right now all he feels is pain from Scott’s words. Lydia grabs a hold of his hand in a tight grip like she’s trying to stop herself from attacking Scott.

“You better watch what you say, McCall.” An angry Boyd is both rare, and frightening, but Scott has lost all self-preservation at this point.

“Come on you guys! All Derek has ever done since we’ve met is say Stiles is annoying or in the way. It’s the same reason why Lydia never gave him the time of day either. Stiles is incapable of landing people like them. He needs someone who’s not going to want to feel like ripping their hair out after hearing him ramble on about some new obsession or hover over them. Half the time I want to--” The smack that was just delivered could be heard down the corridor.

Stiles didn’t even notice Lydia let go of him and rush towards Scott in a whirlwind of fury until he saw the boy’s head snap to the side. No, Stiles was too busy trying to understand how his friend could talk about him like that. Like he was a burden to him and everyone around him. How long has he felt like this? Does Scott want to “tear his hair out” when Stiles talks too much? Is this how his best friend truly sees him? Someone who’s in the way? Stiles almost wishes that Lydia had let him finish his sentence and at the same time he's glad she didn't.

Stiles knew that he could be a bit much for people, “passionate” is what his mom called him, but that was his mom. Others, however, were put off by it, but that wasn’t news to him. It’s why he is so particular about who he lets into his life; people who are just as hard to accept and love as he is. People like that, like Boyd, Erica, Lydia, and Derek, have such strong appearances to the public. Strong and silent, bold and flashy, high and mighty, hard and intimidating; you take one look and think you know all there is to know about them. It takes a second, third, and fourth look to notice there’s more. Stiles is realizing now after all these years, that Scott never noticed.

Stiles felt his legs moving without his say, he didn’t see Erica and Lydia telling Scott where he should stuff his thoughts and opinions. He didn’t see Isaac walking up to the girls trying to diffuse the situation he just walked in on while looking for Scott, and he didn’t see Boyd following him to the parking lot.

It wasn’t until he blindly maneuvered his way through the hall and got to his jeep in the parking lot that he noticed Boyd. The larger man took the keys from Stiles because there was no way in hell that he could let Stiles drive like this. Boyd put him in the passenger seat and went around to start the car and take him home. The car ride was silent, Stiles was replaying his entire friendship with Scott in his mind, and Boyd hopes Erica and Lydia are giving Scott hell right about now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A big thank you to my beta reader! Posting isn't nearly as nerve wracking when you have a 2nd pair of eyes to help keep track of the errors.
> 
> Thanks for reading! Feel free to leave kudos, comments, or questions


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Boyd gets to thinking about things.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Alpha Pack didn't take Boyd and Erica.  
> Gerard is dead.  
> Issac is on the sidelines because he put himself there.

Boyd knew that without Stiles, he and Erica wouldn’t have gotten a chance to be a part of Derek’s pack again. Hell, without Stiles there wouldn’t be a pack period. After escaping Gerard, he and Erica ran out of town without a second thought. They wanted nothing to do with the town they could only associate with pain and suffering. They knew with their supernatural abilities they’d be able to protect themselves from most humans, but they quickly learned that there were scarier things out there than werewolves and worse leaders than Derek. They tried to lay low, steer clear of other wolves and creatures, but months of being run out of territories and avoiding hunters felt less like freedom and more like they were fugitives. After narrowly evading death for the umpteenth time, they tucked their tails and headed back to Beacon Hills. 

What they didn’t know is that the whole time they were gone Stiles and Derek were searching high and low for them. As far as Stiles was aware, Erica and Boyd should have been home healing after he helped them escape from Allison’s basement. Imagine his surprise when their parents filed a missing person’s report first thing Monday morning. Stiles knew Scott would be no help due to the fact Allison had just been shipped out of town to some Hunter’s reform school (apparently, Kate had been sent there, but managed to seduce her way out early) so he went to Derek.

Derek had absolutely no idea, anyone, let alone his betas and Stiles, were kidnapped and tortured by Gerard sometime in that tornado of a weekend. He was under the impression Boyd and Erica had run away, like they had planned, long before the showdown at the warehouse with Jackson and the Argents. Seeing Stiles bruised and smelling his pain was not what he expected or needed on his doorstep. He definitely didn’t expect to hear that Boyd and Erica did not, in fact, leave town. His mind immediately went to the looming threat of the Alpha Pack and thought the worst for the missing teens. Isaac helped at first, but after a few weeks of nothing, he went back to following Scott. The rest of the search was done with Stiles by his side, yet again.

The summer had come and gone with Stiles and Derek still being unable to pin down Erica and Boyd’s location when the two came straight to their door. They looked like they aged 10 years in three months. While Stiles welcomed them back with open arms, which surprised Boyd because they were never close to begin with, Derek kept them at arm’s length.

It all came to head when the next supernatural creature came through Beacon Hills and Stiles almost got his head ripped off all because the pack failed to communicate the plan. After walking away with a large bandage on the side of his throat,  Stiles sat everyone down and forced them to deal with their issues. When it looked like they would try to get out of sharing “The Spray” made its appearance, and Stiles being Stiles couldn’t have regular water in it. No, he added vinegar to give it a kick. All in all, Derek got sprayed twice, Boyd had gotten multiple threats, and Erica threatened Stiles. Though since then, they had started to let go of the old hurt and pain. Then the weekly dinners had started, Isaac was always invited, but he more often than not declined preferring to trail after Scott. 

The pack bonds were shifting, changing, and switching, and Stiles seemed to be at the center of it. He was the glue that was bringing them together and filling up the empty spaces they thought could never be filled again. He encouraged Boyd and Erica to find comfort and trust in others outside of each other, and he pushed Derek to expand the barriers he put up around his mind and his heart.  It was easy for Boyd to see the bond that blossomed between Stiles and Derek. Before he left he would have denied there being any chance of those two getting together. He knows they would’ve denied it too, but somehow in the mess of things they found an anchor within one another.

Now that things have settled down a bit, Erica likes to joke and say that “ _ If we never left, you two would have never spent all that time getting to know each other, and gotten together.”  _

_ “We thought you were kidnapped, it’s not like we were meeting up for walks under the moonlight or something!” _

_ “Moonlight. Really, Stiles.” _

_ “Semantics, you still ended up with each other and now you can thank us by naming your future babies after us.” _

It’s obvious to Boyd now that they would’ve ended up together regardless, it might’ve taken them a little longer, but it still would’ve happened. Which is why he doesn’t get why Scott is making such a big fuss about it. Anyone with working eyes, let alone supernatural ones, can see that Stiles and Derek fit each other in ways most couples wish they could. How can you look at your friend, see how happy they are, and try to tell him it’s not real. Then again we just learned that Scott wasn’t really Stiles’ friend.

Which brings us to now, where Boyd is internally commending himself on his self-control because that’s the only thing stopping himself from stealing glances at Stiles’ in the passenger seat. It’s not that he thinks Stiles will break from hearing all the crap Scott spewed, but he had been expecting him to do more than just sit there and stare out the window.

Boyd is pulling the car up to the Stilinski residence, and Stiles is still just sitting there. He can’t tell him it’s okay because it’s not. He can’t tell him to forget about Scott because he imagines, it’s hard to forget more than a decade of friendship. “He didn’t deserve you.”

Stiles started, almost like he didn’t realize someone else was with him but he doesn’t look away from the window.

Boyd puts his hand on Stiles’ shoulder and squeezes. “You give so much to others, and now you deserve people to give back to you. McCall doesn’t know what he just gave up.” Stiles’ lip shakily curls at the corner, and he nods, but the larger boy knows he’s not ready to believe what he’s said yet. He watches Stiles put his hand on the door handle.

“Tell Derek the dinner is canceled, please. If he asks, just tell him I’m not feeling well. You can use the jeep to get back to school.” His voice is hushed and cracked in some places.

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll just run back.” Boyd squeezes his shoulder then hands him the keys, and it seems to be what pushes Stiles to get out the car and trudge up to his front door. Boyd watches him go, hears him head straight to his room, and listens to him just sit there. He shakes his head and gets out of the car, and turns running back to the high school. He really  _ really  _ hopes the girls gave Scott hell.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Derek Hale, 23.  
> Enjoys spending time at home with his feet up and a good book.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Has two weeks already gone by? Whoa..  
> I hope you enjoy this little time with Derek.

Derek could honestly say he has a lot of things going well for him right now. With the legal help of Lydia’s attorney, he was able to successfully repossess his family's’ land from the county. He and his betas are building a real relationship this time around, and it’s starting to feel more and more like having a family again every day. The sheriff is way more accepting of him than he thought he should be considering he’s the older boyfriend of his only child, who’s still in high school. Yet, the sheriff has done nothing but welcome him into his home, and was the one who encouraged him to apply for a deputy’s position at the sheriff’s station. Then there’s Stiles. Loud, obnoxious, scary, beautiful, smart, loyal Stiles. One of the best parts of his life right now.

He’s finally with someone who isn’t psychotic. Don’t get him wrong, Derek is fully aware that Stiles is an absolute lunatic, ruthless, and downright frightening when he wants to be. However, Derek is able to find comfort in knowing that most of what his boyfriend does is for the greater good, and that’s all that matters. He can absolutely say that he despised Stiles in the beginning. What sane person would try to insert themselves into a life that can take everything you love away from you in a matter of minutes. He growled, shoved, and pushed him away, but like mold, Stiles stuck and grew around Derek, and he resented him for it.

There were times where he wished he himself were human just so he could walk away from this life of being on the run, dodging hunters, and to stop feeling that gaping hole in his chest from the loss of his family. Yet here comes this kid stumbling after his friend, and constantly putting himself in harm’s way. Derek simply did. Not. Under. Stand. He just wanted to shake the boy and shout at him to get out while he still can, and he finally did break one day and ask him while they were following a lead on Boyd and Erica’s whereabouts.

 

_“Why are you here?”_

_Stiles didn’t bother looking up, “We both know without a plan you’ll probably get yourself killed. At some point, we’re going to have to talk about that martyr complex of yours. I know for a fact that it’s not healthy, and another-”_

_Before Derek knew it he had Stiles slammed against one of the loft’s pillars, and he was roaring in his face. He could hear Stiles heartbeat running, and smell his shock, annoyance, but no fear._

_“Why. Are. You. Always. Here!” Derek pushed his shoulders back with every word and wrenched himself away to pace the length of the loft back and forth. “You’re always in the middle of things! You’re here more than my own betas for fuck’s sake! You’ve had every opportunity to run off and forget about us, about me, but you’re still here. I don’t understand! How could you possibly still want to be here after everything? You talk about my martyr complex, let’s look at you-” He stuttered off when he felt a firm hand grab his arm, swing him around, and before he knew it a bony finger flicked him across the tip of his nose. Derek brought his hands up to cover his nose and stared wide-eyed at the furious boy in front of him._

 

His mother would always flick him on the ear when he would throw tantrums over things he couldn’t figure out. _Breathe, pup. No need for the fuss._ He could hear her say that every time. When he shifted for the first time, and couldn’t shift back, or when he couldn’t get his claws out of the tree he was climbing. His first instinct was always to get angry, but she was always there to calm him down and get him to think differently. After they were gone Laura did it, but she would flick him on the nose instead, and it worked every time.

 

_“One, I’m highly upset that the first time I’m hearing you say more than two sentences at a time with emotion is so you can rant at me.” He has one finger up and brings up another to join it. “Two, I don’t have a martyr complex, but I have heard I lack self-preservation, and three, I’m still here because I want to be. Isaac disappeared after helping us for only two days, and that was around the same time Scott stopped asking me to stop helping you and hang out with him.” He watches Stiles drift back to the table where they had their research laid out and lean against it. “I’m still here because I want to be. I want to help you find Boyd and Erica. I want to help you be a better Alpha because let’s be honest, you really were not prepared for any of this, and it showed.” He waves his arms around him to emphasize that last statement._

_Derek who had started to feel a bit too vulnerable standing in the middle of his loft drifted towards Stiles and leaned back against the table next to him. “At first I stayed for Scott because I wasn’t going to just abandon my best friend. Then it gave me some weird sense of purpose, helping people, solving problems. I’m good at it, or else you would’ve been serious about making me go away.” He smelled the sour note of sadness, and loneliness, something he’s all too familiar with. “I know you’re scared for me, don’t deny it either.” Derek could feel his eyes on the side of his face, but he didn’t dare look up from the ground to face them. “I’m scared sometimes too, but I feel safe around you. Besides, in case you haven’t noticed no one is exactly begging to have me around them right now. Scott is being all buddy buddy with Isaac, my dad is married to his job, and we have actual sit down conversations maybe twice a week. Come to think of it, one of them is tomorrow.” Stiles rolled his eyes and turned to start gathering up his things, “But, I get it. You don’t want someone else on your conscience, that’s understandable.”_

_Derek panicked seeing him leave, despite the fact that this is what he wanted the whole time. He reasoned with himself that Stiles would sneak around and involve himself regardless, and Derek would be better off having Stiles near him to make sure no harm comes to him. At least, that’s what he told Stiles, and going by his stupid little smirk he wasn’t convinced either, but he managed to keeps his thoughts to himself for once._

 

Later on, Derek can still recall clear as day the pleased smile on Stiles’ face when Derek told him he’d always have a place in his pack. He also remembered it clearly because that was the moment Stiles kissed him. He kissed him, winked, and walked out. Meanwhile, Derek spent all night in the same spot until he ran to Stiles’ house the next morning to find him sitting at the kitchen table with the Sheriff.

 

_“Speak of the devil, and he shows up.” Stiles pulls out the seat next to him, farthest from the Sheriff who is already seated at the head of the table looking like a deer in headlights. Derek accepts his fate and trudges towards the chair and his head thumps on the table when he drops it onto it.”Father dearest, as I was saying, I went for it like you said, and kissed Derek, and seeing how he’s in the same clothes as yesterday, I’m sure he’s here to try to convince me that we can’t be together.”_

_The Sheriff spluttered, “Stiles! When I told you to go for it, I thought you were talking about a boy or girl from your class, not, not-”_

_“A misunderstood individual who, like you and I, can relate to feeling and experiencing loss. Therefore, is able to better appreciate, cherish, and value the people he cares about in his life. I’m sure we can all agree that I, being the jewel that I am, deserve to be appreciated, cherished, and valued.” Derek feels something in his chest warm at the words, and knows his ears are probably flaming right now. “And another thing, it surprises me that this town didn’t do more to help Derek and his sister out at their time of need.”_

_He can smell the shame coming off the Sheriff and decides to speak up. “Stiles, it wasn’t their responsibility to look out for us.” He’s sure, with him being face down, that his voice was a little muffled, but they heard him._

_“No.” The Sheriff sighs, “He’s right, son. We should’ve done more for you. You two were just kids, and this town let you down. I also, know that when my son has his eyes set on something he usually gets it.” From the sound of his voice, this seems to be something he had to come to terms with a long time ago.  “From the talk around town, you seem to have heart eyes following him around.” Derek is seriously contemplating banging his head on this table, but he doesn’t think the Sheriff would appreciate dents in his furniture. “However, I don’t want my son pulling all the strings here. I’m not all for it, but I can tell you two care about each other, and that leaves room for you to hurt each other.”_

_Derek felt Stiles’ hand tugging his ear so he finally picked his head up and looked at the other two. He saw the Sheriff watching Stiles in a pensive way, and Stiles was watching Derek with a hopeful smile. Derek started to return it until that nagging voice in his head decided to wake up, and he looked at the Sheriff with a suspicious look, “But what about our age difference? I’m 5 years older than him and you didn’t mention it at all.”_

_He expected Stiles to glare at him for his rare case of foot-in-mouth, but Stiles turned to his father with that infuriating smirk on his face, “Tell him who was older dad.”_

_To his surprise, the sheriff’s face got all splotchy and flushed when he said, “You know damn well your mother was the older one. We met later in life than the two of you, so age wasn’t that big of an issue for us.”_

_Stiles leaned in closer to Derek’s face and winked, “That’s my dad’s way of saying we Stilinskis like them fine and primed.” That earned Stiles a slap to the back of the head from his dad, and Derek’s head hit the table again._

 

The Sheriff didn’t really seem too eager to have a follow-up conversation after that, not that Derek sees him all that often for that to happen. Most of the time, Stiles comes straight to the loft after school, and he knows it’s because he doesn’t want to be home alone. Derek has no problems with it, they find comfort in each other’s presence. Stiles strips down the layers he’s built up for others and he’s actually much... tamer than people know.

 

_Derek remembers coming in one evening to find Boyd and Stiles on the couch. Boyd sat in the corner lost in one of Derek’s old novels, and Stiles was sitting with his legs curled up underneath him on the other side. Derek made his way to the small kitchen where Erica was staring at the two boys. When Derek asked if she was okay she just looked at him and said that she had never seen Stiles so calm before. “I never realized how unsettled he was around others, all the flailing, and jumpiness vanished the minute he walked in here. It’s a weird thing to see, but I like it.” Derek does too; he’s glad Stiles can let go around him and his pack and Derek feels the same with Stiles._

 

He’s noticed little changes in himself like him smiling a little wider, he’s not looking behind him as often, he’s sleeping a little longer. The layer of dust on his duffle bag in the coat closet only further proves that he’s not thinking about running every week like he used to. He’s settling, and he likes it.

The loud buzzing of his cell phone jolts him out of his reverie, his coffee in front of him is cold, and he’s been on the same page of his book for what looks like an hour, good grief. He’s been daydreaming a lot more too, he has to watch out for that one before Erica or Stiles catches him and poke fun at him. Boyd would get that knowing look, and that would be worse. He looks at his phone and sees Lydia’s name.

**2:30- Call me.**

**2:30- Scott is a waste of matter**

**2:31- He’s about to have a heel up his ass.**

Derek rears back, Lydia never swears even when she’s upset. His phone buzzed again.

**2:33- Erica took my phone, but seriously, call me. Now.**

“What has he done now?” Derek groans and hits the call button, and gets his keys because if Erica is upset too then he probably has to go do damage control.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lydia tries... She really does.. Alas, there's just no getting through to 'dumb boys'.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow. I didn't know how behind I was until I climbed out of the fog from final exams and papers. Thank you for sticking around. Now that I'm free I will go back to regular updates!

Lydia pocketed her phone after giving Derek the abridged version of what Scott said about Stiles. During that time it seems like Erica has finally given up on verbally eviscerating Scott, and is shoving him into an empty classroom. Lydia pockets her phone and does a sweep up and down the hall for any witnesses then follows them into the room and hears Scott trying to finagle his way out of this situation. 

“Scott, for goodness sake, shut up! Erica is not going to hurt you.” Lydia’s words are contradicted by the sound of claws unsheathing.

“Yes, I will.” Erica holds her claws by her side ready to pounce at any moment, but Lydia turns and levels her with a smile that could only bring pain and suffering.

“Scott. I don’t usually hold my tongue, you know this. However, Stiles unexpectedly became one  of my closest friends in the last year and I respected our friendship by not telling you how I really feel about you.” Scott’s eyes started to widen and he looked like he was choking on a lemon.

“Lydia I’m so sorry!”  Now it’s Lydia’s turn to look shocked, she and Erica share a confused glance.

“Sorry for what exactly?” Scott moves forward and puts his hands on her shoulders.

“I’m sorry for leading you on all this time. That kiss in coaches office was such a long time ago and I was under the influence of the moon. I thought you knew it didn’t mean anything.” Then he brings her forward into a hug, but she’s too stunned to move. “I’m flattered you think of me that way. I get why you didn’t want to do anything especially with how Stiles has been hung up on you all these years. I never realized how considerate you are.” Then he gives her shoulders a squeeze, tilts his head, and smiles.

You could hear a pin drop in the room, no one is moving, and Scott’s cheeks are starting to twitch from smiling for so long. Boyd decides to walk in at that moment which sends everyone into motion.

Lydia’s hand moves with supernatural like speed when she jabs her nails into his Adam’s apple. One of Scott’s hands grabs his throat as the other catches himself on the desk behind and crumples to his knee. Erica rushes forward and lifts her heel to aim at his forehead, but Boyd manages to grab her up by the waist. If he moves slow enough to let her get a graze in, well, that’s no one’s business.

“You must be real full of yourself for you to possibly think I could ever want you!” Lydia all but screams at him.

“Must be full of shit.” Erica is basically vibrating where she’s locked in Boyd’s arms.

“First of all, me kissing you was the most repulsive thing I had ever experienced. Your breath tasted like barbecue sauce and you left spit on my chin. There weren’t enough bottles of Listerine in the world to erase that taste out of my mouth.”

“Gross.” Came twin replies from Erica and Boyd, whose faces scrunched up in disgust.   

Lydia is towering over Scott from where he’s still sitting on the ground. “Second, I don’t want you. Not yesterday, not today, not now, and not ever. I wish I had been there to save Stiles from ever meeting you because now we all have the immense displeasure of dealing with you.”

“Preach sister!” Erica encourages.

“I have a 4.5 GPA and am blessed with the ability to read  _ and _ comprehend the English language which is clearly something you can’t do or else you would have known what being a decent friend means.” Lydia sees Scott get up and try to come up with some sort of defense, but she’s not having it. “All he’s ever done is be there for you. That’s it. He doesn’t ask for anything from you other than the unspoken promise of having his back. Tell me Scott who was there for you when your dad walked out of your life? Who used his own money from summer jobs to buy and carry around an extra inhaler for you? Who brings food to your mom for you when you can’t? Tell me what person would stick around after they saw their friend sprout fur, fangs, and claws?”

“It’s his fault I’m a werewolf in the first place! If he never dragged me out of my house to go looking in the woods I would’ve been a normal kid!” Scott yells and Lydia throws her hands up in the air because she’s officially done trying to get through to him. She turns and shakes her head at the other two in the room, except Erica is no longer there.

At her questioning look, Boyd gives a wry smile and says, “She walked out after saying and I quote ‘I wasn’t born to deal with dumb boys.’”

“I’m right here, you know.”

Lydia shakes her head, pulls out her phone to give Derek another call. She’s walking to the door and without turning she responds to Scott  “Yeah we know, and it’s too bad you drove away one of the only people who would care.”

She’s barely out the room when she hears Boyd start to talk. “I hope you know that he’s  _ ours  _ now. You just made the worst decision of your life, but the best one for ours. He’s not perfect and he never pretends to be, and neither does anyone in our pack. So we’ll look out for him the way you never could. Have a good day, Scott.” Lydia felt a chill going down her spine because she knows those parting words meant the opposite. She looks back at them and Boyd walks towards her, and behind them, Scott’s eyes are glowing, but they seem dimmer than they usually would. Boyd puts a hand on her back to lead her out of the room. “Let’s find Erica before she slits his tires. Knowing her she’ll probably smile right at the security cameras before she does so.”

Lydia smiles at the thought, and finally presses the call button on her phone. She has a feeling Derek would be of better use at the Stilinski house right about now. She also sends the Sheriff and Melissa a text, if anyone could try to talk some sense into Scott it might be those two.

 


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We finally hear from our little wallflower, Isaac.  
> Also, everyone needs a Derek to hold them through their trying times.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys I'm back on track! Also, I COMPLETELY forgot about Isaac in the last update. His existence just slipped my mind in this story, like he's in my outline once then he never shows up again, so I snuck him in here lol He kind of threw off the plot a tad bit, but that's okay bc winging things is what I do best.

If Isaac didn’t know what it felt like to be a fly on the wall, he knows now. He watched and heard the conversation with Scott against everyone else and the only indication that they knew he was there was when Erica looked at him before she stormed out of the room. He knew Boyd and Erica had been trying to reach out to him but wasn’t ready to be around them yet. A part of him is still upset that they ran away together and didn’t even think about taking him with them. It threw him off because not once before did they ever try to leave him out, in fact, they went out of their way to make him feel like he was a part of their relationship. He thought they loved him just as much as he loved them, but he knows now that he was wrong. He also feels really guilty about not making much of an effort to help find them because of that.  

He didn’t see himself hanging out with Derek either, because even though he took Isaac in they barely spoke to each other. What would they talk about,  _ What a coincidence..both our families are dead...  _ Yeah, no. Isaac sleeps at the loft, grabs the lunch money Derek leaves out for him and walks to school. The Sheriff’s department had given him his dad’s car, but Isaac could still smell the blood that seeped into the seat his dad was murdered in without opening the door. He doesn’t see himself stepping foot in it anytime soon.

The next best thing was Scott and Stiles. Mostly Scott though because Stiles was a lot for anyone, but for someone who had as limited social interactions as he did growing up, Stiles was a whirlwind.

He’s sure he could’ve adapted to him, Derek certainly did, but he realized shortly that outside of school Scott and Stiles barely saw each other. Before, Isaac was under the impression that there would be late nights with the two boys playing video games and joint family dinners, but that wasn’t the case. Isaac wasn’t the one who asked Scott about it though.

_ They were having a quiet dinner with Mrs. McCall on her rare night in when she looked up suddenly and stared at the one empty seat at the table. _

_ “Scott where’s Stiles? He’s always here for my famous lasagna.”  Scott started to shift with the attention on him. _

_ “Stiles has been really busy with school lately and trying to beat Lydia for Valedictorian.” Isaac tried not to react hearing Scott’s heart skip a beat. _

_ “Leave it to Stiles to turn anything into a challenge,” she laughed. “Why don’t you give him a call Scott, I’m sure he’d drop everything with the promise of some food. It’s been awhile since I’ve seen him too now that I think of it, mayb-” _

_ “Mom.” Isaac flinched a bit at the harsh tone Scott just used and blinked at him when he carried on a bit softer “Stiles is busy tonight, he said he’s having dinner with his dad.” _

_ Melissa’s forehead scrunched up in confusion, “John told me he was working tonight when I last spoke to him earlier.” _

_ “Yea Stiles is bringing dinner to him. You know how obsessed he is about his dad eating healthy.” Then he smiled at his mom and changed the subject, and Isaac just kept his head down. _

That wasn’t the first time Scott lied or avoided talking about why Stiles wasn’t hanging around, but Isaac wasn’t in any position to question other people’s friendships. However, hearing Lydia talk about Stiles and how he’s been there for Scott over the years made him rethink his decision on not asking Scott about what happened. How could anyone want to let someone like that go? He watched Boyd and Lydia take their leave and Scott was still rooted in his spot. Isaac came around to stand in front of him, but it was like Scott was seeing through him. What really threw Isaac off though was his eyes, his wolf eyes, they weren’t they bright gold that they usually were. They were dimmer, practically translucent.

“Scott.” No answer. “Hello?” It took Isaac snapping his fingers in his face for Scott to blinked out of his daze, and finally blink away the shift in his eyes.

“Isaac how long have you been standing there,” Scott took a look around, “ and where did everybody go?” If Isaac wasn’t concerned before he sure was now.

“Scott, are you alright? You kind of zoned out there.” Scott just rolled his eyes and gave that crooked smile that would usually placate Isaac, but now all it did was make him want to take a step back. Scott was looking a little unhinged at the moment and Isaac started to regret not slipping out unnoticed.

“Yea. No, I’m fine. I’m more than fine. They’ll figure out the type of guy Stiles is soon enough, then they’ll be running to me for help to get rid of him.”

“Scott don’t you think you’re being a bit harsh. I mean I don’t know what went on in your friendship, but you guys looked really close. Maybe you two could fix things if you both talked it out.”

“You’re right Isaac.” Scott looked at him. “You don’t know.” Isaac actually does take a step back because this doesn’t sound like Scott. His voice changed completely and it was dark, darker than Isaac thought capable, then the bell rang. The two boys jumped at the unexpected sound and just like that Scott went back to “normal”. Scott grabbed his bag and threw Isaac a wave and a smile. Isaac watched him walk away with a heavy feeling churning in his gut.

  
  


Derek just did an illegal u-turn, but he couldn’t care less. Lydia said the situation was handled so he took her word for it and headed for Stiles’ house instead. He felt like he should’ve been a tad more worried when he heard Boyd in the background shouting at who he believes was Erica,  _ ‘Where did you find an axe, woman?!’  _ But he has all the faith in Boyd’s wrangling abilities and he’s sure he won’t let Erica make any lasting damage to whoever or whatever crossed her.

Pulling into Stiles’ driveway it took him less than two seconds to decide that he’s going in through the window. The thought of having to fish out his key, put it in the door, then climbing all those stairs was what made the decision for him. His feet touched the customized welcome mat under the window, courtesy of Stiles, and what he sees is not what he expected. Stiles is sitting on his bed surrounded by printed sheets of paper and his laptop with  _ several  _ tabs open. He also hasn’t noticed Derek at all.

“Stiles.” No answer. “Hello? Stiles!” Still nothing. Derek toed off his shoes, it’s a rule that had been enforced with less than pleasant methods and walked towards Stiles. Snapping his fingers in his face is not working either, so Derek does the next best thing. He climbs on the bed, papers and all, and lays his head on Stiles’ laptop, which is still on his lap. It only takes about 30 seconds for Stiles to realize the reason he can’t see the words on his screen anymore is because Derek’s head is in the way.

“Derek? When did you get here and what are you doing in my lap? Not that I’m complaining, but I guess I am a little bit because I’m a kind of busy at the moment.” Stiles said a bit snappishly and Derek rolls his eyes at the younger man.

“I got here about 5 minutes ago and I’m in your lap because that was the only way to get your attention.”

“Oh. Sorry. I guess I was distracted” Stiles says and looks around himself like he’s noticing all the paper around him for the first time. Derek sits up and looks around too, deciding to hold off on asking about Scott just yet. He picks up one of the papers next to him and doesn’t understand what he’s reading at first, then he realizes that they’re screenshots of what looks like a chat. Looking through the other ones he sees they’re all chats, texts, and emails dating as far back as 2003, and they’re all from Scott.

“Hey, what is all this?” He holds up the documents in his hands when he asks, and Stiles reaches out to snatch one out of his left hand.

“Ooh, thanks Der, I was looking for that one.” Derek watches him grab a highlighter and cover half the page with it. That’s when he really looks at Stiles and takes in everything he didn’t when he first came in. He sees how his hands are shaking, his heart rate is faster than normal, but it’s what his scent gives off that really guts him. He smells heartbroken.

“Aha!” Derek jumps in his spot and his vision is cut off by one of the documents being shoved in his face. “See Derek! See!” But Derek can’t see because Stiles’ hand is shaking. Stiles lets out a frustrated breath when he gets no response from the older man. He pulls back and reads out the line in one of the chat screens he printed out “Right here, on March 3rd, 2003 he says  _ ‘You can tell me anything. That’s what brothers are for.’  _ This is the 32nd time I’ve found where he’s called us brothers so far.” Derek watches him toss the sheet of paper on the floor and scrambles for another in his pile. “And look here’s where he asked me to come along to his grandma’s for the summer! You don’t ask someone you don’t like to come stay with you and your family for a whole month Der.’ His voice is starting to crack in places and the tremors in his hand are getting stronger, but he keeps talking and finding more things that contradict what he heard today.

Derek is choking on the pain he feels swirling in the air and his hands are clenching at the tears coming from Stiles’ eyes.

“Why was he pretending all this time?  What could he possibly gain from pretending to be friends with me? Me! Of all people.”

It looks like Stiles doesn’t even realize he’s crying and Derek can’t stand to see this any longer, he can’t see someone he loves in so much pain. He moves to sit behind him and cages him in with his body. Stiles is still trying to read, but he can’t see with the tears clouding his eyes. Derek reaches in front of him to shut the laptop and kicks the papers on the bed to the floor. Stiles’ body is racking with sobs against his even as he tries to push out of Derek’s arms who starts tugging him closer to sit against the headboard. Derek doesn’t budge just gently grabs his head and tucks it against his chest and puts his lips to the top of his head. Stiles stops fighting and grabs a hold of the arm over his chest and hugs it to himself. Derek presses a kiss to the crown of his head and ignores the wetness he feels on his own face.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We got a lot of love and fluff going on here. All the good stuff, and a hint of sour at the end.

Stiles woke up extremely confused. According to his clock, it’s 5 pm but he’s not leaving lacrosse practice. Nope, he’s waking up in bed with his boyfriend and… now he remembers. Scott, Boyd driving him home, sitting on his bed, the confusion from Scott’s words, printing out every digital conversation they ever had, Derek coming over, and the tears. Stiles sighs and scrubs his hands over his face and lays there with his head pillowed on Derek’s arm. Stiles feels a warm huff of air on the back of his neck and figures Derek had fallen asleep. 

He’s staring at the light the sunset casts into his room giving it a peaceful glow. Peace. After a craptastic last two years, peace is all he wants to deal with, but Scott decided to throw a wrench in those plans. Stiles feels a tear fall out of the corner of his eye and settle into the space between his cheek and Derek’s arm. He wipes it away and kisses the spot on Derek, and sends a silent thanks to whoever, who knows what state he would’ve worked himself into without this man behind him.

He decides in that moment that he doesn’t care what Scott  _ thinks _ is going on because he knows in his heart that it’s not true. His boyfriend knows firsthand what it’s like to have his heart toyed with, he couldn’t imagine doing the same to someone else. He doesn’t know where Scott came up with such an idea that Derek would use Stiles as a way to get to him. Stiles turns in Derek’s arms and the wolf grunts in his sleep at the movement bringing a smile to the boy’s face. Hard to believe this is the same guy who threatened to rip out his throat two years ago. He reaches his hand out to Derek’s face to brush back a stray hair and sees his eyes start to flutter and then he’s looking into those beautiful eyes.

“Hi,” they both breathe out at the same time, letting out small smiles after. Stiles’ drags his hand from the other’s hair down his face and leans forward covering the other’s lips with his own. They were dry yet still soft and he feels Derek wet them with his tongue but doesn’t push any further. Stiles reluctantly pulls back but it’s worth it to see the love in Derek’s expression. The arm around his body pulls him impossibly closer and Derek meets their foreheads together. Just like that, Stiles feels like they’ve entered their own little world and nothing can touch it. They stay like that for however long before Derek is the one to break the silence.

“How are you feeling?” Derek’s voice is hushed but clear.

_ How is he feeling?  _ Sad. “Sad.” Hurt. “Hurt.” Betrayed. “Betrayed.” There’s more but his head still isn’t clear enough to match words with his emotions. He shakes his head and pushes Derek to his back so he can lay his head on his chest. The hands that were around him before starts rubbing his back and massaging his head like they’re trying to scrub his pain away.

“I wish we could take emotional pain too and not just physical,” Derek says sounding frustrated at himself. Which is silly because he didn’t pick and choose the abilities he has.

Stiles tilts his head up and kisses the stubbled jaw. “You’re doing more than enough right now. Thank you.” His lips scratching against the scruff.

Derek scoffs at the words and turns his head to peck the younger man’s lips, “Don’t thank me. I’ll always be there for you.” Any doubt that rose in Stiles from Scott’s words vanished with that statement and it was enough to bring tears to his eyes. Derek must’ve known what he was thinking because he hugged him close again. “I hope I don’t need to tell you that what Scott said was crap.” Stiles felt more than heard his pause. “I love you. I don’t say it as much as you do, but I try and show it to you every day, in every way I can.” 

Stiles nodded, sniffed, and cleared his throat before speaking, “I know you do. I know.”

“Good. I’ll be here as long as you’ll have me be-” Stiles pinched Derek’s side instead of letting him finish his sentence, and pushes up on his elbow to hover over Derek’s face with a scowl.

“Shut. It.” Each syllable was punctuated with a poke to Derek’s chest. “You see what you did. You just demolished a very sweet moment. Demolished! Poof, gone, caput!” Stiles’ hand flailed in its usual fashion emphasizing his point and then he grabs Derek’s face, making sure to squeeze his cheeks to make his lips pucker. “I will always want you. Forever. You, me, and the pups big guy.” He saw Derek’s ears start to turn red so he figured he got his point across and gave the puckered lips a kiss. Derek pried Stiles’ fingers off his cheeks without breaking their lips contact and for a moment they were able to forget about everything outside of each other.

Eventually, Stiles’ stomach growled reminding him that he left school before eating lunch and a quick look at his clock told him it was 8 PM. After a day like this, he tells himself that he deserves more than 3-day old leftovers. “Derek, can we go to the diner?” Stiles looks at Derek knowing his eyes are his boyfriend’s weakness, but Derek doesn’t need convincing. If diner food will put Stiles in a good mood then Derek would gladly buy the whole restaurant for him.

“Of course.” Stiles aims a beaming smile at Derek, making the latter’s heart skip a beat, and gets up to grab his shoes. He hears Derek get up too, and groan, his body probably a bit stiff from laying in bed for so long, but Stiles refrains from poking fun at the person who is about to pay for his meal. He ties his shoes and pockets his phone.

“Ready, Der?” His boyfriend is distracted, sitting on the edge of the bed, scrolling through his phone. Stiles goes over and sits next to him and sees he’s scrolling through texts from the pack all asking how he is and if he’s okay. Stiles sighs, “Tell them I’m okay, or that I will be.” Derek gives him an understanding look and nods assent, and literally writes word for word what Stiles says. Stiles huffs out a laugh and shakes his head and gets an idea, “Hey tell them to meet us at the diner.”

Derek does just that and they all agree, even Lydia who usually complains about the fact that they only have one type of salad. Potato salad. Before he knows it he’s smooshed up against the corner of an old, red, booth by Derek, laughing at Lydia regaling him with an account of how Boyd managed to stop Finstock from calling the sheriff’s department on Erica. He has tears in his eyes when Boyd says it took reciting some stupid speech from a movie about the revolution to distract Coach long enough for his girlfriend to run back into the school. Even Derek is laughing and Erica is smirking with her arms crossed on the other side of the booth next to Boyd, and she’s not so secretly preening at how happy Stiles sounds listening to the accounts of her antics. Stiles takes a breath and leans his head against Derek’s shoulder and with a smile looks around the table at the people around him and sees Lydia taking pictures of them. He sees one of the waitresses about to pass by and calls her, “Hey can you please take a picture of me and my frien-family?” She smiles and says yes, and he notices how everyone’s smiles at his choice of word. Derek pulls Lydia off her chair and against him in the booth so they can all fit in the photo.

  
  
  


They’re all smiling and so happy that they don’t notice the figure outside that has been watching them for quite some time now. 

_ ‘Look at them smiling and laughing. That should be you there, not  _ him.  _ It’s his fault you’re a wolf and yet you let him get a pack before you. You’re gonna take it from him. Better yet, you’re going to rip that ‘family’ apart.’ _

“Hey man, you okay? Who are you talking to?” Scott looks away from the diner and sees a stranger looking at him concernedly. Scott shakes his head and nods.

“I wasn’t talking to anyone.” The stranger looks even more concerned if not a bit weirded out.

“Are you sure? Because I saw-” Scott stopped listening to the man, shook his head again like he was shaking off something, and hopped on his bike driving away leaving the man sputtering behind him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I update every weekend... I say weekend because it could be on any day between Friday & Sunday.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things are pretty chill...for now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to say Happy Mother's Day to all the moms and every type of mom there is. The biological moms, the step moms, the single moms, the adoptive moms, the guardians, the motherly figures, ALL OF YOU! Enjoy your day! You are loved and appreciated :-)

“Mondays should be canceled forever.” Stiles drops himself like a sack of potatoes on top of the table. Lydia rolls her eyes and flicks his ear until he slides off of her textbook and into the empty seat at the end of the table. 

Boyd, who hasn’t looked up from his textbook once says, “Mrs. Levingston is cursing you out under her breath.” Stiles perks up and whips around to look at said librarian and blows her a kiss. Boyd fails to hide his smirk and shakes his head.

“Stiles it’s only third period and just because this is a free block doesn’t mean you’re free from doing work.” Lydia pulls out a packet. A whole packet put together with a pink staple in the corner. “Here, I printed this out for you, Boyd already started his. Please circle the problems you struggle with, we can review those when you’re done.”

Stiles is sitting there gaping at her, then at the  _ assessment.  _ He shudders, “Um, excuse me. Why am I being punished right now.” He’s not whining. Really he’s not.

“It’s not punishment Stiles. I’m first in our class, you’re right behind me, and with my help, Boyd will be third by the end of the week.” Stiles opens his mouth to not whine again, but the look of pure pride and joy on Lydia’s face stops him. As well as the kick to his shin that came from Boyd’s direction, that’s going to leave a bruise.

“Well, what about Erica?” Boyd snorts and Lydia aims a look at him, then she turns to Stiles. “Erica and I have come to a compromise. She stays in the top 10 and we won’t have a problem.” Stiles notes that she doesn’t sound as happy as she did earlier, but she knows that’s as good as it’s going to get with Erica. Stiles is honestly surprised they get along so well; two stubborn, headstrong women. He thought for sure they would have butt heads, but instead, they’ve decided to work together and strike fear in unsuspecting males.

“Boyd, you agreed to this?” He lifts an eyebrow at the other man.

“Good grades mean good schools.” This..is true. This is very true. Stiles huffs and moodily starts his work after that reminder. He almost forgot that they had one year left until college. He hasn’t even started looking into schools or scholarships yet. He’ll have to remind Scott to-- He knows his heartbeat just stuttered and the way Boyd’s eyes flickered to his chest confirmed it. He took a couple of deep breaths and gave the concerned beta what he thinks was a reassuring smile. Then he sends thanks to whoever or whatever is up there for not giving Lydia super senses because he doesn’t think he could deal with her type of concern just yet.

All it took was a split second to forget that his days of reminding Scott of things he should know for himself are over. He had planned on avoiding Scott in the halls today, but there was no point because Scott acted like he didn’t exist anyway. What’s worse is that everyone’s noticed. Stiles is talking about the whole school, even Finstock noticed when they didn’t sit next to each other in class, he was kind enough not to mention it though.

It wasn’t out of the goodness of his heart though. It turns out that when Scott decided to unleash his true colors, in the hallway last week, a cheerleader just so happened to be in the nearest classroom and heard every crappy word he said. It wasn’t just any cheerleader either, it was Nancy Tiddleton, daughter of Sophie Tiddleton, president and CEO of the town gossip mill. Let’s just say that apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree, it might as well still be on the branches. Because by Monday morning everyone had known that the “bromance” was over and everyone was all of a sudden hashtag “Team Stiles”. Stiles wouldn’t have minded if it weren’t for all the sympathetic pats on the back, thumbs up, and pity. He hates pity. To make matters worse he found out half the school thought he and Scott were an actual couple. 

He was shocked out of his thoughts and flinched when he felt a leg press up against his. “You good?” If it were anyone else he would, well he doesn’t know what he’d do, but since it’s Boyd he knows it’s coming from a genuine place. Stiles shrugs, he doesn’t know how to respond to that yet. Lydia noticed him zone out as well and he can feel her eyes on him. She keeps her thoughts to herself though, and grabs one of his hands and gives it a squeeze, then she pinches him.

“Ow! What the hell Lyds?” He snatches his hand back from her. “First they’re sweet then they’re sour.” He murmurs.

“You wasted this whole free block. You’ll just have to work on it tonight after dinner.” He loudly groans. That is the last thing he’ll be thinking about because after dinner Derek is staying over and they’re going to do things. All the things. He saw Lydia reach out to again but he dodged her just in time. “Your bedroom face is sickening. Has anyone ever told you that?”

“Nope.” He pops the “p” in the word and smiles cheekily, “Derek loves it.” He waggles his eyebrows at her.

“Ugh. I  _ really  _ didn’t need to know that.” Boyd is scowling at Stiles as he packs his work up and stands from the table. Stiles flings himself on him and wraps his arms around the other man’s bulkyframe.

“No, Boyd I’m sorry! Don’t leave us!” Boyd is attempting to shake Stiles off but doesn’t want to accidentally hurt him so it’s not working. “How about I bake you some brownies.” Stiles’ eyes light up. “Brownies for my brownie-” Lydia snorts and fails to smother her giggles. Boyd gets his hands under Stiles’ armpits and lifts him so his toes are brushing the floor. 

“One, Never call me that again.” Stiles isn’t afraid because he heard Erica call him that the other day and the amusement in Boyd’s eyes betray the serious look on his face. “Two, I will only accept fudge brownies with cluster nuts.” Stiles smiles and does grabby hands stretching in front of him. Boyd sighs, rolls his eyes, then pulls, Stiles is being pulled in too quickly for him to realize he’s being hugged and next thing he knows he’s on the ground again. He watches Boyd grab his bag and throw a two finger salute to Lydia, who waves her fingers at him and then he’s out of the library.

Stiles watches the spot where Boyd stood then he looks at Lydia with wide eyes. “Oh my goodness. I’m Boyd’s favorite.”

Lydia shakes her head at Stiles’ ridiculousness, “I’m pretty sure that’s Erica, then Derek.”

“Pish posh.” He bats his hand at her words. “They don’t count because one is his girlfriend and the other is his Alpha, but after that, I’m definitely his favorite. Just like I’m yours. I’m everybody’s favorite.” He’s smirking to himself then Lydia ruins it.

“You sound like Jackson.” She says standing with her things to go to her next class period. Stiles doesn’t see her smile because he’s too busy squawking at her statement and waves away the librarian who is frantically shushing him.

  
  
“Alrighty. Lasagna is in the oven.”

“Check.”

“Salad is done.”

“Check.”

“Brownie mix is... ugh, mixed.”

Derek snorts. “Check.”

“Table is set.”

“Check.”

“Cleans plates.” Silence. “Clean plates?” More silence. “Derek, why aren’t you saying check?” Stiles looks at him with slightly crazed eyes and Derek breaks.

“Just kidding. Check.” Derek laughs at the betrayed look on his boyfriend’s face and ducks to avoid the apron aimed at his face.  

“You’re an ass.” Stiles grouses and goes about checking everything in the kitchen and the dining room for the second time. Derek isn’t having it and swoops in to grab him before he decides to start reorganizing the table setting.

“And you’re a perfectionist.” He wraps his arms around Stiles’ waist and backs him up against the kitchen island.

“You know that if Boyd finds out you’re seducing me next to his brownie mix he will have a fit. That’s not something I want to deal with.” Derek does know this, but he doesn’t care. Besides he was woken up last weekend by Boyd and Erica having sex on  _ his  _ couch. Boyd will be quite alright.

“He’ll live.” Derek presses his nose behind Stiles’ ear and breathes in his scent. He smells like sweat, chocolate, cinnamon, and growing arousal. “You need to chill.” Derek hides his smile in the juncture of Stiles’ neck and shoulder.

“‘Chill’. Really?” Stiles says dryly. Derek pulls back and drags a hand through the other’s messy hair. He hasn’t trimmed it in a few weeks and it’s starting to grow past the top of his ears and Derek loves it.

“Yes, chill. You do this every time we have a pack dinner. I think you’re forgetting these are the same people who saw you get stuck in the kid’s swing a few weeks ago.” Derek smiled at the memory as he said it because it had to be one of the most ridiculous and funniest situations he’s ever had to deal with. “They could eat off of fine china or paper and they wouldn’t care, so long as there’s food on it.” Derek cut Stiles of before he could protest, “With the exception of Lydia.”

Stiles deflates knowing he has nothing to say against the words because Derek is right. He usually is, but Stiles doesn’t like telling him that. He looks down between them when he talks “I guess. I just want everyone to have a good time, you know.”

Derek tilts Stiles’ chin up and leans in pressing his lips softly against his. “I know.” His lips move against the other’s and he presses against them again. They kissed slowly content to feel each other’s hands roam their bodies. The combination of Stiles’ fingers brushing down Derek’s back and the rough edge of Derek’s beard on Stiles’ lips had left both men wanting more. The kiss grew more heated with them forgetting everything but each other. Derek’s fingers dragged down the younger male’s sides and up his shirt, feeling the silky skin beneath his fingers, he’s rewarded with a soft moan--

_ “For fuck’s sake!”  _ Both men jumped apart, Stiles loses his balance and falls off the counter completely, but shoots up to stare at whoever just walked into his house. He relaxes when he sees it’s Boyd and looks to Derek who looks like a deer in headlights and he can’t help but smile at how adorable he looks. He turns back just in time to see Boyd stomp to where Stiles and Derek were just doing stuff. Boyd looks at them indignantly and swipes the brownie mix from the counter and stomps out the kitchen, presumably to keep the mix from being exposed to any more of their love.

Stiles hears a choking sound and looks at Derek covering his mouth to keep in his laughter. Stiles slaps his arm and hisses, “I told you so!” He makes his way towards the sound of Erica’s failed attempts at trying to coax the dessert mix from her boyfriend. “Boyd? Buddy? Nothing happened, I swear. If anything, blame Derek for being too hard to resist.”

“You’re just weak.” Derek hears a pause.

“But, can you blame me? That is one fine Alpha you got there.” Derek throws his head back listening to his beta and his boyfriend go back and forth. The timer rings and Derek calls for Erica to come help with the rest of the prep while Stiles tries to get Boyd to relinquish the brownies.

  
  
Dinner is going great. Everyone’s plate has been wiped clean, they’re all laughing and enjoying themselves. Which is probably why it’s at that exact moment Stiles’ dad, Melissa, and Scott all enter the house.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scott the Dinner Crasher ft. Sheriff Stilinski and Melissa McCall

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys, I'm so sorry for the delay. My glasses broke T_T . I literally cannot see words 2 ft in front me without them. I had to type in 150% zoom just to see the words on my screen and even then I couldn't look at my screen too long without getting a migraine. My eye doctor is also backed up with appts. so I can't get a new prescription (which is needed) for another week. Please bear with me in these next few weeks. Updates will be a bit farther apart until I get my eyes right...

Chaos. Pure and utter chaos.

For the split second where everyone stared at each other; Stiles and the pack seated at the table and the Sheriff, Melissa, and Scott standing in the entryway, there was a moment where Stiles thought things would stay calm. He was right..for a second. A second was all it took then all hell broke loose.

If you asked him he wouldn’t be able to tell you what set it off in his tiny dining room. Stiles has no shame in saying that he stayed in his seat and continued eating his food and pretended like everything around him was just a figment of his imagination. There was Erica on one side of the table throwing stray pieces of lettuce at Scott, Lydia was next to her telling Melissa to move out the way so she wouldn’t accidentally get stabbed with a fork. Boyd was a walking wall and is pushing up against the Sheriff’s weak attempt at keeping the wolves at bay while Derek and Scott are trying to out growl each other. Stiles just kept eating his pasta.

“Enough!” The Sheriff shouted. Everyone froze and if Stiles looked up and saw them he would’ve laughed. “Stiles. Stiles? Son?” The Sheriff knocked on the table to get his attention. Stiles paused looking up with his cheeks puffed out with food. The Sheriff sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Son, you mind explaining to me why I walked into my house and was attacked by your friends?”

Stiles scanned the room and took notice of how his pack formed almost a protective barrier around him with their bodies. He swallowed and wiped his mouth to answer, but Erica beat him to eat.

“We would never attack you, Sheriff.” Her smile was saccharine and she whipped her arm out to point at Scott who was still breathing hard. “Him, on the other hand, we wouldn’t mind talking to.”

“Not in this house you will.” Stiles avoided looking at his father because he knew that he was probably wondering why he didn’t jump to Scott’s defense yet.  

“No offense Sir, but he’s not welcome here in the first place.” Derek, who was standing to Stiles’ right, said.

“Now hold on just a minute. What are you talking about? Why wouldn’t Scott be welcome at the house that might as well be his second home.” Melissa asks confusedly with her hands on her hips. “Stiles what are they talking about? Does this have anything to do with why you haven’t been coming over lately even when I ask Scott to invite you.” She looks hurt by this and that’s when Stiles decides to speak up because he refuses to be made to look like the bad guy in this situation. 

“Wow Scott, and here I thought you’ve always been trash at lying, but you’ve been playing everyone haven’t you.” Stiles tilts his head and looks at Scott in scrutiny.  

“If anyone is getting played, it’s you!” Scott seethes at Stiles.

Stiles rolls his eyes because this is getting old. “Save it, Scott. The only fake person here is you. I don’t know why you’re still hung up on Derek. He couldn’t care less about you if he tried.”

“I’ve tried and I couldn’t.” Derek adds on with a sarcastic smile. 

“You’ve already said your piece. You think I’m annoying, cool. Everyone is out of my league, that’s nice. No one wants to be my friend, awesome. And yet you’re the one the whole school hates, the one with no friends, and the one whose girlfriend dumped him.” Stiles crosses his arms and stares him down.  

Melissa looks at Scott with a mixture of shock and disappointment. “Scott? Did you really say all those things?” She places her hand on his arm to get him to look at her, but he yanks it from her so hard she clutches her hand to her chest.  

“Hey!” The Sheriff pushes Melissa behind him and in front of Scott. “What has gotten into you kid? I’ve known you for a long time and this isn’t like you!” The words fall on deaf ears because Scott only has eyes for two people: Stiles and Derek.  

“What do you want from me?” Scott’s question is directed at Derek who rolls his eyes much like Stiles did before.  

Derek takes a long deep breath. “Scott-”

“No, you must want something!” Scott is yelling now, and his eyes are flickering between gold and his natural eye color.

“Oh, for the love of- I do not want a damn thing from you! I don’t want you around me, my pack or my boyfriend. I promise we’re all much better off without you and your ego.” Stiles could tell Derek was starting to get frustrated and put his hand on the small of his back. Scott saw the movement and his face twisted into a nasty sneer. 

“You and your whole fucking family have ruined my life. First, your psychotic uncle attacks me, then you stalk me for months trying to get me in your little pack, then you attack my girlfriend’s mom and make her leave me, and now this!” He waves his hand at where Derek and Stiles are connected. “You and your family are nothing but poison! They deserved to die and you should’ve burned with them!”  

Stiles launched himself at Scott who was unprepared for the attack and they landed on the floor. He didn’t care where he hit just as long as it hurt. He barely felt Scott punching back, all he could think about is hurting Scott just as much as he hurt him. Stiles jumped Scott so quickly that he didn’t see how Derek caved into himself at the hateful words, nor did he see his boyfriend run out of the Stilinski home with Boyd and Erica chasing after him. He was fueled with anger at the boy who was supposed to be his friend, his best friend.  

Two arms wrapped around his torso ripping him off of Scott, but not without a struggle. “Stiles! Son, get off of him! That’s enough. Enough!” Stiles is panting in his father’s arms and he pushes himself out of them and turns on his dad. 

“No, dad! Derek didn’t deserve that! Hell, I didn’t deserve that!” He whirls on Scott who his getting off the ground. “How dare you say something like that to him! How sick do you have to be to say something like that? Newsflash Scott! Derek isn’t the villain here. Peter? Yes. Kate? Yes. Gerard? Absolutely! And now you. 

Peter is the one who bit you, not Derek. All Derek did was try to help you and yes he went about it the completely wrong way, but guess what? _His sister was just fucking murdered and he was the one who found her body cut in half!_ Oh, and did you conveniently fucking forget that the only reason Derek bit your precious Allison’s mom is because he was disoriented from the _wolfsbane vapor she tried to murder you with?_ Melissa sucks in a breath in the background, looks like Scott didn’t share that either.

“Speaking of Allison, poor, poor, Allison. I feel so terrible she got shipped off to the hunter’s reform school because her crazy ass grandfather brainwashed her into maiming, stabbing, kidnapping, and shooting half my pack. Oh, yes, my heart was just aching for her especially when I was dragged passed her to her basement where her grandfather was electrocuting my friends and beat the shit out of me. Yes, I feel so bad that she’s getting exactly what she deserves.”

Scott roars at Stiles and lunges at him with his claws out and aimed at Stiles’ throat. “Scott stop!” The Sheriff yells from behind Stiles and suddenly Scott stops, his body locks up mid-movement. He seizes and falls to the ground and reveals Lydia and Melissa behind where he stood. Each holding up a taser and Stiles notes sadly that Melissa has tear tracks going down her face. Stiles catches her eye and tries to give her an apologetic smile, but he’s not too sure he hit the mark. Lydia looks downright terrified and Stiles has an idea as to why and it only makes him want to get out faster.

Stiles crouches in front of Scott where he’s crumpled on the floor. “Derek isn’t your enemy Scott. He never was. I don’t know what you’re going through but it’s bigger than Derek and I. Do yourself a favor and get some help Scott or you’ll lose everyone.” With that Stiles straightens up and signals Lydia so they could get out of there. He sees his dad with a conflicted look on his face, he’s looking at Stiles and then he’s looking at Melissa who is just barely keeping it together. Stiles makes the choice for him. 

“Don’t worry about it dad, you stay here and take care of things. It’s best if I stay with the pack anyway, we need some TLC after this. It seems like we’ll need to have our family night sooner than later.” Stiles ignored when the Sheriff frowned guiltily at the word ‘family’, to be quite honest Stiles’ relationship with his dad is the last thing on his mind right now. His boyfriend has run off, his pack members are most likely chasing after him in the woods, and Lydia looks like a gust of wind could set her off into hyperventilation.

Before the Sheriff can respond Stiles grabs Lydia’s hand and rushes out of the house. He’s driving for about 5 minutes with no destination because apparently none of the pack know the concept of calling someone back. He’s this close to pulling over and hitting his head against the steering wheel.

“I was about to scream.”

“Oh shit!” Stiles starts so badly his foot accidentally hits the breaks and both he and Lydia plunge forward in their seats, their seatbelts stopped them from hitting the windshield. Stiles has his hand above his heart because it feels like it’s about to jump out his chest. Lydia, on the other hand, doesn’t look phased in the slightest she’s still got the scared look on her face.

“Lydia, are you okay? I’m so sorry, I don’t why I got so jumpy-”

“I was about to scream.” She says again like she didn’t hear him talking. Her voice is shaky as she speaks and Stiles feels his stomach start to twist because of it.

“Just now? We’re okay though, the jeep didn’t crash. So we’re good.” Even as he’s speaking the words he knows that that is not what she’s talking about.  

Lydia looks at him and she’s shaking her head, and looking in her eyes Stiles sees what he feared. 

“When he was...” Lydia closes her eyes and takes a breath before starting again, her eyes trained on the three faint claw marks on Stiles’ neck. “Stiles, right before Scott attacked you I felt a scream in my chest...and it was for you.”

 

 

Lydia waits for Stiles to say something, anything, and he doesn’t. He’s just staring at her, his face blank, and unblinking. His phone beeps in the silence and he picks it up and Lydia doesn’t think he even registers the words he’s seeing, but he locks the phone, starts the car back and pulls onto the road. “Stiles, did you hear what I said?”

His knuckles go white on the steering wheel. “Erica says they got Derek to the loft. Do you want me to drop you off at home?” HIs voice is cold, colder than Lydia has ever heard. 

“Stiles, this is not the type of situation you can ignore and think it’ll go away. You almost died tonight!”

“No, goddammit! He wouldn’t do that! Not, Scott!” He shakes his head viciously and meets Lydia’s eyes quickly then looks back at the road. “No. There’s something wrong with him Lydia. There has to be because this is not normal.”

Lydia wants to believe that, but Stiles didn’t see what she saw. She didn’t just feel a scream bubbling up, she felt a death so heavy in that room she could almost taste it. She saw claws dripping with blood and lifeless whiskey brown eyes frozen in shock. It was worse than she could ever imagine. She feels goosebumps climb up her arms just thinking about it again.

“We can’t tell Derek.” Lydia whips her head up at her friend and sees that the car has stopped moving and they’re already outside the loft building.

“What the hell do you mean?! You can’t keep this from him, Stiles, are you insane?”  She hisses because who knows how far werewolves can hear. She makes a note to find out later on.

Stiles turns and faces her with a seriousness to him that she’s seen less than a handful of times. “Something’s not right with him, Lyds. C’mon there has to be.” There’s a desperation to it, as well, and she knows he’s trying to convince himself just as much as her.

Several seconds go by where she doesn’t respond and she breathes out heavily and dips her head imperceptibly. Stiles body sags in the driver’s seat at her nod and he blows out a breath.

“You have two weeks to figure out if and what is wrong with him. Two, before I tell your boyfriend for you.” She points a finger at him and gets out of the car. She hears him scramble to catch up to her as she strides into the building. They’re in the elevator when she tells him, “And I’m helping you with this research so that I can rule out any unlikelihoods.”

 

 

Stiles smiles tiredly at her and gives her a short side hug. “I wouldn’t expect anything less from you, my queen.” The leave the elevator and enter the loft where Erica and Boyd are arranging the mattresses and pillows on the floor in front of the massive windows. Lydia is already marching towards them to ‘help’ them.

He scans the room for Derek and is surprised to see Isaac as well. They’re sitting together at the kitchen island with two steaming mugs. Stiles makes his way towards them, says a quick “Hi Isaac” and takes his boyfriend in his arms. Derek reunites with his boyfriend by wrapping his hands around Stiles’ waist and burying his face in the crook of his neck, taking lungfuls of his scent through his nose while he’s there.

Stiles smooths his hands down Derek’s hair, back, and arms, basically everywhere. Stiles thinks Isaac left the room but he doesn’t care either way. They stand like that for so long that Stiles’ leg is starting to fall asleep; it’s when he shifts for the third time that Derek pulls back. They slip past the pack who are all settled on the mattresses with pillows and sheets he’s never seen before, and he’ll have to talk to Derek about Lydia’s access to his card. They go out to the balcony and Stiles sits on one of the lounge chairs and Derek settles his back to his front. Stiles places a tender kiss to his temple, wraps his arms around his front and all of Derek’s muscles loosen.

“I’m okay,” Derek says quietly, but Stiles doesn’t respond. “Really, I am. I’m sorry for taking off like that too. I just needed to get out of there before I did something I would regret.” Derek grabs a hold of one of the hands on his chest and rubs his thumb across the back of it.

“Don’t apologize. What he said was beyond- ugh, ‘shitty’ doesn’t even cover it. I don’t blame you. None of what he said is true please remember that.”

“I know. I know it’s not true, but it’s what I told myself for a long time anyway. I just didn’t expect to hear it from someone else.” Derek hesitates to continue and Stiles stays quiet to let him gather his words. “I made an appointment with Dr. Waileen for this week.”

Stiles hugs him tight. “Okay, that’s good. I can take you there if you’d like.”

“I’d like.”

When Boyd and Erica came back things were tense, communication and trust were nonexistent. So Stiles had scoured the internet and found some reliable sources, illegal paperwork, and managed to find a Therapist who was _in the know_ just outside of Beacon Hills _._ Dr. Waileen took no shit and tells it like it is, basically she’s perfect. The whole pack has met with her individually and they had one group session. She helped them take several steps forward until they could move on their own.  

Derek had met with her twice a week, in the beginning, then twice a week shifted to once a week, and then he got comfortable with meeting once a month. The guilt he carried all the years didn’t disappear, but he was able to acknowledge that some of it was misplaced, you could say. Stiles knew Scott’s words reopened some wounds, he’s just glad that Derek is taking the initiative to prevent those old wounds from growing.

“I’m proud of you, you know.” Stiles smiles at the redness creeping up Derek’s ears and pulls on one just because.

Derek grumbles and Stiles laughs at how adorable his boyfriend’s being and peppers his cheek with kisses. Derek pushes his face back and flips over, pinning Stiles to the chair all while trying and failing to look put out. Stiles snorts at the attempt and almost misses it when Derek brings their lips together, but he catches on quickly. They melt into each other, their legs twist around each other, and their fingers lace together.

Things aren’t good and in the back of his mind Stiles knows that Derek knows things aren’t good. Derek will want to talk about what to do next about Scott with him and the rest of pack. Hell, he still doesn’t know why Scott showed up to his house in the first place, and what Lydia told him brings up a whole new set of problems that they’ll have to deal with. So right now, they’re taking care of each other. Stiles and Derek will eventually go in, join the puppy pile and they’ll laugh, hug, and love each other. Tomorrow they’ll deal with life and all its problems.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Sheriff reflects a little too late.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would like everyone to go to Shalimar_70's comment and give her a thanks bc her comment really hit me HARD. My glasses broke and I'm essentially blind without them, but I still could've done more. 
> 
> Thanks to those who are still here. And to those who gave up on me, I sincerely apologize. 
> 
> This chapter is shorter than usual, but more is coming very very soon.

Noah John Stilinski,  _ please call me John _ , has seen and made a lot of mistakes in his life. It took him a while to realize that not all lessons have to come from your own mistake. 

When John was twelve he watched his dad drink every night to get himself to relax. Then every night spilled into every afternoon, every afternoon spilled into the mornings too. John got used to coming home and seeing his dad sitting in his recliner, not doing a thing.

At 16, John found out from some kids at school that his dad was the new town drunk, and that  no one in town would hire him not even for the sake of his wife and kids. The mortgage, bills, and other expenses all on to his mother’s shoulders until she had a fatal stroke and passed away just a year later.

At 17, he found the responsibility on his shoulders. John worked odd jobs day in and day out for the house he’s never in and for the shell of a man he used to call ‘Dad’. It wasn’t long before John got a taste of what he avoided for so long. He told himself he would control it better than his dad did and would drink only when he overworked.

But, being an 18 year old high school dropout, working three jobs, meant John was always overworked.   _ Poor boy took after his father.  _ Not quite. Drunk John wasn’t quiet, or somber, he was angry like his dad was. A drunk John was mean, vicious, and heartbreaking. He could cut you with his words faster than you could blink, that and years of heavy lifting made his physical blows damn near deadly.

Too many arrests later the Sheriff of the town sits John down in his office, forces a pen in his hand, and makes him fill out an application to enlist in the army. The lost boy saw saw no other choice for him, and a secret dark place in himself hoped he wouldn’t make it back.

He did though, he made it and eight years later he’s walking back into the Sheriff’s department with his back straight and his mind clearer. The Sheriff tells him that he has an opening as a deputy in the station. 

 

_ “What happened to my father?” John asks, not because he cares, but because its expected. _

_ The Sheriff frowns. “I set him up in the elderly home here in town. He’s gotten...bitter with age. You can go see him.” John nods, he won’t. Then he stands and sticks his hand out. The Sheriff grabs it and holds on. _

_ “Eight years is a long time son. Long enough for people to forget that you’re the same boy who got into bar fights with men twice your age. You can start fresh and make better decisions this time.” The Sheriff gives him a meaningful look and shakes his hand one more time before dropping it. “Who knows. Maybe someday you’ll take my job as the Sheriff of Beacon Hills.” The Sheriff smiles wryly. “You start Monday.” _

 

So that’s what he did. He started over. He worked harder than his father did, and longer than his mother could. He worked hard to support himself, and in the midst of it he fell in love and worked harder to support himself and his wife. Then came a baby and he worked harder than ever to support his family so they’d never end up like he did. Sometimes working hard meant missing a few things like anniversaries, first steps, birthdays, but in his mind it was worth it. His home was worth it.

There were somethings John couldn’t predict that threw a wrench in things, like his wife getting sick with an incurable disease. He most certainly didn’t predict that he wouldn’t be there to say goodbye when she died. Or that his son would, and he’d be all alone when he did.

Back then John didn’t know how to comfort his son because he never had to before. He was never home long enough to see his son do anything but get excited to see him walk in from work and get put to bed. Seeing his son’s grief and dealing with his own drove John to pick up his bottle again to forget about everything around him which inadvertently included his son. Before he knew it Stiles had grown up too fast and started taking care of him instead.

John looked at his son’s  _ “best friend”  _ laying in an unconscious heap in his dining room, Melissa who was standing over her son in tears, and a table packed with cold food, but all he can focus on is the way Stiles called the pack- _ his  _ pack a “family” in a way that makes John think he no longer counts as that. John has to wonder which mistake it was that led to this; choosing work over his family, choosing his bottle over his son, or five minutes ago when he chose to let his son walk out the door for what was probably the last time.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Isaac finally says something.  
> Derek and the pack have a secret too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is still shorter than usual, but it's something.  
> Also, don't hesitate to comment if you see any mistakes. I would really appreciate it.

Stiles wouldn’t say research is his thing, but it’s _his_ thing. He’s good at it; _great at it!_ You want to know what he’s not great at though? Lying to his boyfriend. Derek who is sweet, loving caring, and attentive, has been getting in the way of Stiles’ very important and very secretive research. This wouldn’t be a problem if Stiles went home, but he’s been avoiding his dad who wants to _sit_ and _talk_ , but Stiles isn’t really trying to do that at the moment, hence the avoiding.

So here he is at Derek’s, the same Derek who has been popping his head in on him every ten minutes to check on him and Stiles has to scramble to hide documents and other research he’s been reading pouring over. He wouldn’t have to hide anything, if he knew that Derek wouldn’t flip out majorly over the simple fact that the research is to try and figure out what’s wrong with Scott. Then there’s Isaac who gets wide-eyed and starts stammering whenever he sees Stiles like he forgets the other boy temporarily living there every single time.

On top of that, Lydia’s been breathing hot air down his neck about telling Derek what Scott tried to do, you’d think she were part dragon or something. All in all it’s been a lot. Why is why Stiles is taking full advantage of Derek and the pack not being there by taking a breather and maybe a nap. Unfortunately, the minute he sat down on the couch in front of the tv, that he coerced Derek in to getting, Isaac decided appear in front of him and make a pretty shoddy impression of a fish. After 30 seconds of them staring at each other, he gives in. “What’s up, Isaac? What’s going on?”

Isaac starts at the words and still says nothing, and Stiles has to count backwards before he blow up at the other boy. He just wants to relax. Isaac shuffles his feet, then paces from one end of the couch and to the other, then takes a seat and tries to make himself as small as possible which should be hard considering he’s over 6 feet.

Stiles clears his throat, “Something’s telling me you want to talk, and now would be a good time while the others are out.”

 _Smile, Stiles. Be inviting, not creepy._ His face must have done something right because Isaac sits up straighter and faces him more.

“I know you’ve been trying to figure out if something is making Scott act..” Isaac paused, “differently lately.”

Stiles frowned, “How did you-”

“A few nights ago, I snuck into your room and went through your research when you fell asleep on top of it.” Stiles’ jaw drops and Isaac smirks, but the look is fleeting and Isaac continues. “I didn’t want to say anything, but then I heard Scott talking to himself, I think.”

The silence rang through the loft as Stiles digested what Isaac had said. “Like giving himself, pep talks or?” Stiles lets the question hang in the air because _what the hell?_

Isaac huffs and pulls on his curls. “No, as in full blown diabolical conversations with himself in the dark about destroying the pack and everyone they love starting with the human!”

“ _What!?”_ Stiles jumped out of his seat and in front of Isaac, who had jumped up as well in defense at the outburst.

“I don’t know, okay! I noticed he was acting different for a while and then there was the thing with his eyes and-”

“What thing? Whose eyes!?”

Isaac starts pacing at an unnatural speed before Stiles. “Scott’s eyes! They were different, like the glow is fading away and turning into this milky color.”

“Fading away.. milky color..” Stiles muttered to himself then turned into a flurry of motion at once, and he’s darting past Isaac, taking the stairs two at a time to his room. Isaac doesn’t waste anytime going after him and finds Stiles rifling through his papers.

“Stiles what are you looking for?” Stiles ignores him or just doesn’t hear him and keeps digging through his research and when he finds what he’s looking for he reads over, once, twice, and sags. “What? What does it say? Does it say something about Scott!?” Stiles doesn’t say anything, but holds out the papers in his hands. Isaac snatches is it and his eyes scan the words on the pages.

_Breakdown_

_Humanity_

_Lone wolf_

_Feral_

_Disconnection_

_Mercy...killing_

Isaac doesn’t feel the papers slip through his fingers and doesn’t realize he’s slid to the floor until his bottom meets it with a thud.

“ _Fuck._ ”

 

  
_Meanwhile elsewhere in Beacon Hills…_

 

“That doesn’t look good.”

“That’s because it’s not.”

“Do you know what it means?”

Derek turns, and faces Boyd and Erica. “It means we have more problems coming to Beacon Hills.”

Behind him, barely standing, is the Hale house, and painted onto the door with what smells like deer blood is a spiral like Derek's tattoo, but the three arms sharped edged instead of swirls.

“There’s always problems in Beacon Hills.” Boyd grumbles to himself, looking and sounding utterly fed up with the hellmouth that is Beacon Hills.

  
  
  
  



	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Derek tries to set a trap..for Stiles?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly, at this point I'm just posting when I can. This story ran away from the outline about 7 chapters ago...

_ “There’s always problems in Beacon Hills.” Boyd grumbles to himself, looking and sounding utterly fed up with the hellmouth that is Beacon Hills. _

 

Derek knows that Stiles knows he’s hiding something, but Stiles knows that Derek knows he’s hiding something too. It’s just a matter of time before one of them breaks first and spills the truth. In the past Derek would’ve bet, without a doubt, on Stiles to be the one to give in. However, these last few months, dating the younger man he knows that Stiles is a master a deflection and distraction, especially the sexy kind. Derek doesn’t mind that last bit all that much, but once the afterglow is has finished,well, glowing he realizes that he’d been duped again. 

Not today though! He’s determined to find out what Stiles is hiding. He knows Stiles would never cheat or anything equally slash more terrible. He’s the most loyal person Derek knows, but Stiles has been known to keep secrets that put him in harm’s way and that’s what Derek is worried about. Coupled with the fact that Stiles has been smelling like anxiety, Isaac has been smelling like anxiety and guilt, and Lydia has been smelling like anxiety, guilt, and fear.

So Derek planned a nice dinner where he’ll pull Stiles into a false sense of security with his culinary arts, lay him on the couch, and  _ bam!  _ Ask him what the hell he’s been hiding. That was the plan, but it turns out Stiles had his own plan. To be honest, Derek should’ve seen this coming.

“Stiles! Why are we in a circle of mountain ash!?” Said mountain ash is surrounding the two with only a foot of space between them and to the line. Stiles is currently attempting to stare him down, and Derek will never admit that it’s working.

“You tell me Derek. You’ve been acting cagey all week! Especially when Erica and Boyd are around.”

Damn. Derek thought he was doing a good job at hiding that.

“Why didn’t you just ask me instead of putting us in this tiny circle, I can’t move without touching you.”

Stiles leered at him. “You like touching me,” then quickly shakes that train of thought out his head, and put his serious face back on, “and besides every time I try to talk to you about it you run away.”

Derek doesn’t run, he just.. remembers that he had things to do at the time. Nevertheless, Derek couldn’t let this situation turn on him completely. “Well, you’ve been hiding stuff to.” Stiles eyes widen and now he’s the one who starts looking trapped. Ha. Got him.

“I know not of what you speak.” Stiles looks two seconds away from breaking the circle, but Derek doesn’t have super speed for nothing. Derek wraps his arms around Stiles, trapping his arms behind him.

“You’re right.” Stiles shivers when Derek’s lips touch his ear. “I do like touching you.” The hand not holding Stiles’ wrists trails down his side and rubs a circle on the sliver of hip that’s showing. “And I love having sex with you.” When Derek pulls back a little, Stiles looks up and his heart skips when he sees the frown pulled on his boyfriend’s face. “What I don’t love is being distracted with sex to avoid talking about what you’ve been hiding.”

Stiles’ face screws up in horror and his scent turns sour with shame and guilt, and Derek realizes where his line of thinking went. “Hey. No. Stop that.” Derek says gently, and kisses Stiles’ cheek. “You weren’t taking advantage of me or anything like whatever you’re thinking, Derek adds a teasing lilt to his voice, “and besides I enjoyed it.”

To his surprise Stiles tenses up even more. Derek feels movement coming from the wrists he’s holding. Then he feels more than hears a silent pop, and he knows Stiles broke the circle. 

Stiles pulls out of the arms that were trapping and heads on over to the couch. Derek follows him and sits next to him, but leaves enough space so Stiles doesn’t feel crowded. He takes a moment to look at his boyfriend and notices the circles under his eyes, and how he’s rubbing his wrists- a sign of his anxiousness.

“He’s turning feral.”

Derek eye’s widen in shock. He knows instantly who Stiles is talking about, and he’s angry at himself from not noticing the signs beforehand. His parents talked about feral wolves and it’s why his control is so important to him. It’s drilled into your mind as a pup; strong pack, strong anchor, strong wolf. Derek himself was close at one point, when Laura died. He told Isaac, on his first full moon, that anger was his anchor, but he lied. It was guilt.

Becoming feral is as good as being dead by hunter, wolf, or by any other supernatural creature that gets to you first. Derek stayed sane because he felt like he deserved to live in the misery he created for himself. Dying would have been to much of a relief to him at the time. Instead, the pain from the loss of his family, his sister, is what he thought he deserved to carry for the rest of his life. Yea, Derek’s mind was not a pretty place to be in back then. Some days he still feels those dark thoughts creeping up, but his pack, his Stiles keeps him grounded.

But now Stiles is telling him that his former friend is, essentially, losing his mind. Now, he has to figure out how to tell him Scott can’t live if it comes to that.

“Stiles-” Derek reaches for his hand, and uncurls it from his knee.

“I know.” Stiles looks at him with watery eyes. “I looked everywhere for a solution, a cure, anything, but once it’s started it just keeps spreading like a- like a disease. And someone is gonna have to- to ki- kill him.” Stiles’ breath starts hitching in his throat and he starts breathing too hard. Derek drags him under his arm, and Stiles puts his face in his neck. His tears drenching the other man’s shirt in seconds. Whatever else he was gonna say is pushed to this side right now.

After some time his tears stop and Derek is scratching his hand through the younger man’s hair.

“You wanna know what sucks about this whole situation?” Stiles asks with a croak in his voice.

“All of it.”

Stiles huffs and shakes his head. “Yea, it all sucks, but what sucks even more is that I don’t know if it was the real Scott or the feral Scott that’s been treating me like shit.”

Derek sigh, and says nothing because to be honest. He doesn’t know either. He and Scott never had a good relationship, and he’ll accept blame for how things went in the beginning, but he’s only tried to move forward since then. Scott’s the one that’s never been interested in doing the same.

All Derek can do right now is comfort Stiles, everything else will have to wait till  tomorrow, and that includes coming clean about the Alpha Pack paying a visit.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The forest used to be a place for jogging, camping and romantic picnics. Good times.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back & I'm sorry.  
> All grammar and spelling mistakes are mine (don't be afraid to call me out on my trashy editing skills).

Stiles wakes up in the morning with a killer headache and no recollection of how he got from the couch to the bed. He can guess he has Derek to thank for that. Thinking of Derek, Stiles feels for him in the rumpled sheets next to him, but gets a warm empty spot instead, like he just got up less than a few minutes ago. He looks around the room and doesn’t see Derek, he doesn’t hear him in the connected bathroom either. He gets up and stretches up, down, left and right. He takes his time going to the bathroom and cleaning himself up before he heads down the spiral stairs. 

He still doesn’t see Derek so he assumes he went out for a run. He makes his way into the kitchen, his second favorite room, after Derek’s bedroom, to make a cup of coffee. He comes around the island to lean over with his mug and gets a perfect view out the giant windows, that reveal someone on the balcony. There Derek is on the phone, pacing back and forth. Stiles doesn’t want to interrupt so he keeps watch and notices how distressed the older man looks the longer he listens to whatever he’s hearing on the other line. Derek turns to pace back and his eyes catch Stiles’ through the window. Stiles tilts his with a silent question head, but Derek shakes his head and quickly ending his conversation and comes in.

“Everything okay?” Stiles asks and Derek waves the question away as he comes close and steals his coffee. “Hey!” Stiles moves to take it back and Derek uses it as his chance to reel him in and kiss him over the mug.

Their lips break apart but their heads rest gently together. “Everything is fine, it was just some concerns with control since the full moon is tonight.” Derek says in the space between them.

Stiles smiles encouragingly. “They’ll be okay. Their control has improved and someone made sure their anchors are strong.” Derek hums and pulls Stiles in tighter, trailing his nose from the younger man’s temple to his neck which Stiles enjoys incredibly. Especially, since it’s accompanied with a big package that seems very interested  in being unraveled

“I see someone else wants to join the party.” Stiles wiggles his eyebrows even though his boyfriend can’t see it, but from Derek’s groan he’s sure he imagined it.

“I really wish wouldn't personify my dick. It’s weird.” Derek says sounding both exasperated and fond.

“Well, love muffin you’re out of luck because I happen to be a weird person.” Stiles says all this as he grabs a hold of Derek’s hand and pulls him back to the bedroom, and Derek accepts his fate because after all he started it.

“Don’t call me that.” Derek grumbles as he trails behind the supposed love of his life.

“What would like to be called? There’s snookums, hun buns which is a personal favorite because your buns are sweet in real life. There’s also Sourwolf and-”

Derek’s groans aren’t loud enough to drown out the rambling, but in the back of his mind he wouldn’t have it any other way.

Later on, after quite literally dragging himself away from his boyfriend Stiles found himself in the company of Isaac stalking Scott. How did this come about you ask, well Isaac had called, stressed as could be, going on about how Scott was up all night moving around and muttering to himself and then snuck out through his window in the morning. Isaac said he tried to sneak into his room a couple minutes after he left, but Scott had locked the door from the inside. So now the two have been trying to trail Scott’s scent all day which has been admittedly hard to follow according to Isaac. It’s as if Scott is masking his scent on purpose.

“Turn left!” Isaac yells and Stiles swerves hard to make the turn. He’s sheepish when he meets Isaac’s glare.

“Oops.”

Isaac narrows his eyes, but thankfully goes back to sticking his head out the window and scenting the air. Stiles takes in his surroundings, he sees the sun setting quickly, and he knows it won't be long before the full moon shines the night sky.

“Stop the car, it smells like he went into the forest there.” Isaac is already scrambling out the car after the scent and Stiles barely puts the car in park before he’s running too. He’s thankful he had it in mind to put some mountain ash in his pocket earlier because he has a feeling things are going to go left tonight.

After running in what feels like circles Stiles stops because they are in fact running in actual circles. Now he’s pissed and a little nervous because they realize this means Scott knows he’s being followed. Look around the clearing he can’t shake the familiar feeling like he’s been here before.

He wants to ask Isaac if he feels the same, but Isaac’s head tilts to the side and Stiles know he hears something he can’t. “He’s coming..”

Stiles looks around frantically. “Who? What are talking about?”   

Isaac turns and pushes Stiles. “Run!” Then he’s is flung against a tree by a hulking blur.

He takes in Isaac’s slumped form against the base of tree, sees him still breathing. Stiles hears a snarl and takes off, he’s jumping over roots and upended trees, Finstock would be proud, he sees the trees opening in front of him, he’s almost there until he’s not. He’s tackled to the ground, he feels his shirt ride up from the movement and knows his front is all scratched up. He has no time to dwell on this as he’s flipped over onto his back and gets a clawed hand to his throat. The hand starts squeezing and all he can think of is how heartbroken Derek will be if he dies.

He looks into his attackers eyes and it’s not the brown ones he grew up with, not even the gold ones he accepted so easily. The eyes looking into his are a grey, blurry color that make him dizzy, but that might attribute to the fact that he’s losing air as well. He gives up on trying to reach the mountain ash in his pocket and attempts to push back at Scott.

“Scott,” he croaks out “please stop.” He keeps repeating those words and his feels tears leaking down the sides of his face.

“Please, Scotty.” he whimpers, and the pressure stops. He watches as Scott’s eyes fade back to gold then brown. Then he watches the wolf shake his head back and forth like he’s come up from underwater.

“Stiles?” Scott sits up on top of Stiles and looks around. “What’s going on? Where are we?” He looks down at Stiles and his eyes widen at Stiles’ state. Stiles himself can only imagine what he looks like after hours of running through these woods and getting dragged across the forest floor. Scott reaches to touch his face and he flinches back instinctively, which alerts him to the fact that his ribs are on fire.

Scott looks wounded but Stiles wastes no time scrambling backwards to get away from his ex-friend. “Did I?” Scott looks down at his hands. “Did I do this to you?” He stands up and takes a step towards Stiles and Stiles just manages to grab a hold of the ash in his pocket, but Scott’s next question has him pause.

“Man, seriously what’s going on? Where’s Allison and Gerard? Are they out here too?” Scott looks around them.

“What are you-” Isaac crashes through the bushes before he could finish his question and puts Scott in the same position he had Stiles in, and Stiles feels a shift in the air. Isaac is snarling, but Stiles can’t take his eyes away from Scott who somehow manages to turn his head in Isaac’s grip and stare into Stiles’ eyes with grey eyes once more.

“I should’ve killed you in that basement when I had the chance.” Scott sneers and that look just doesn’t fit on his face, and those words don’t sound like his either. Scott kicks Isaac off him, but Isaac moves quickly and grabbing Scott and throwing him across the clearing, next thing you know Isaac has Stiles in a bridal carry and they’re jetting through the forest.

“He wasn’t there.” Stiles tries to get out.

“Stop talking.” Isaac growls out.

“Isaac, I’m trying to tell you Scott was not there.” Stiles tries to get Isaac to understand.

“That’s nice, but let’s talk about that when I don’t hear multiple heartbeats other than our own in the area. Kay. Great.” Isaac says all this while running full speed through the forest with Stiles in his arms and without breaking stride. Stiles is not jealous at all.

“Can you tell who they are?”

“No, I.” He pauses. “Actually, I can.” Then Isaac turns around and goes back from the direction we came in.

“Um, what the hell are you doing?! We’re supposed to be running away from the danger not towards it!” Stiles pulls on Isaac’s ridiculous scarf to try to steer him to the other direction, but the tall wolf probably doesn’t even feel it.

They crash through the bushes, Stiles gets a mouthful of shrub in the process. He’s ready to throttle the scarf wearing giant from his perch in his arms, but he sees what made him stop in the first place. It’s Scott dangling in the air by his neck, and the hand holding him belongs to Derek.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy my loves!


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just what we need...more alphas.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All the spelling and grammar mistakes are mine. I hope there's not too many.

They crash through the bushes, Stiles gets a mouthful of shrub in the process. He’s ready to throttle the scarf wearing giant from his perch in his arms, but he sees what made him stop in the first place. It’s Scott dangling in the air by his neck, and the hand holding him belongs to Derek. 

When, Stiles sees Derek, the alpha turns his eyes toward the pair and the red of his eyes seem to glow even brighter at the sight of the two of them. Stiles scrambles to get out of the bridal carry Isaac still has him in, but all that movement does is remind him of his injuries, and he groans in pain. Isaac finally gets with the program and sets Stiles down with surprising gentleness. 

Derek’s sub vocal growling, and the sound of Scott thrashing under the pressure of the clawed hand at his throat, is what gets Stiles’ attention again. “Hi, honey. Fancy meeting you here. In the woods. Strangling Scott.” Stiles is going for innocence, but he’s sure he’s missed it by a mile. A twig snaps to the left of them, and Stiles flails before he’s aware of whom the pair is. “Oh, and you brought Erica and Boyd too! Hi, friends!” Stiles trails off with an awkward chuckle that is met with tense silence. Derek rolls his eyes and with supernatural speed he gets Scott into a choke hold, and squeezes him unconscious. Stiles watches Scott slump in his boyfriend’s arms and fall into a heap on the ground. 

“Stiles.” Derek growls.

“Derek.” Stiles replies.

“Please tell me you weren’t stupid enough to chase a feral omega through the woods on a  _ full moon!” _

“It was more like I was chasing Isaac who was chasing Scott and—“

“Stiles!” Derek stalks towards his boyfriend, and Isaac,  _ the moron,  _ steps in front of him.

“It’s my fault. I was the one who came to him about Scott, and I was the one who asked him to go after--”

“You purposely led my mate into danger without consulting me or the rest of the pack!”

“Um, excuse me. What and who is a mate?” Stiles asks, but he’s ignored.

“What pack!? As far as I’m concerned I haven’t been a part of any pack since those two disappeared!” Isaac rounds on the couple and points at them Erica who bristle at the comment, and flashes her eyes before opening her mouth.

“Don’t go pointing fingers at us, Curly! We’ve reached out to you multiple times and you always blow us to go sniffing McCall’s ass.” Isaac flashes his eyes back at Erica, and this causes Boyd to growl protectively back. Hurt flashes on Isaac’s face, before his angry mask comes back up.

“And yet, when I make dog jokes it’s frowned upon.” Stiles mumbles, then raises his voice to say the next part. “Guys, this is not our priority right now. We have to focus on what we came here--” Stiles pauses and looks at Derek. “Actually, what are you guys doing out here?”

Derek stiffens and his face becomes unreadable. “I came looking for Scott-”

Stiles felt like lead dropped into his stomach. “You went chasing after _my_ best friend. Without me.”

Derek can’t make eye contact with him which is a pretty big indicator that whatever is about to come out his mouth is a load of bull. “It’s dangerous especially for a human to-”

Stiles holds a hand up, cutting him off, and walks forward, closing the space between him and Derek, the arguing in the background hushes, and he waits for Derek to meet his eyes. Stiles forgets, even after all their time together, he sometimes forgets that they’re the same height. Derek huffs through his nose and lifts his gaze defensively. “When did we start lying to each other?”

It’s not louder than a whisper, but in the silence of the woods it felt much louder and Stiles is close enough to see how his words affect Derek. He’s close enough to see the hurt and distress flash across his boyfriend’s face.

“Der, I know you’ve been hiding something from me for a couple weeks. You kept distracting me and deflecting, but I thought that if it were serious enough you’d tell me.” Derek looks guiltier with each word. “What won’t you tell me?”

A few seconds pass and Derek opens his mouth, but the voice heard through the clearing isn’t his.

“Derek Hale, what a…pleasant surprise. We’ve been looking for you.” Everyone spins towards the voice and out the tree line a white stick comes through followed by a man and Stiles notes he has sunglasses on. “I must say, you are the spitting image of your mother.” The man is smiling wryly like he just told a joke. That’s exactly when Stiles put the walking stick and the glasses together and realizes this man is blind.

I don’t know if you remember me, I’m Alpha Deucalion." This guy should meet Peter because this pause is too dramatic. "Alpha of Alphas.” As he says this, five more people come out of the shadows and to Stiles,’ and what felt like everyone else’s dread, they all have red eyes.

Stiles feels the betas come up behind him and Derek, and a quick look back tells him Scott is still laid out on the ground. He grabs Derek’s hand and feels him freeze, he looks up at the wolf’s face and sees disbelief and agony. He looks back at the Alphas, and seriously a pack of Alphas, of all things! Stiles is sure this is what Derek was hiding and the question is why. He ponders on that as he looks back to the group of people facing their pack. One woman in particular looks vaguely familiar, but Stiles can’t place why, surprisingly it’s Derek who speaks up first.

“Cora?” Who’s Cora? “You’re alive?” Derek sounds wrecked, there’s no other word for it.

“Cora?” Derek makes an aborted move forward, but stops himself from taking a step. “How did you--how are you--?” The woman, who Stiles is slowly piecing together as someone Derek thought to be dead, smiles sadly at Derek and shakes her head imperceptibly.

“Now now Derek, there will be plenty of time for family reunions later. In the meantime, we must--” As Deucalion speaks a light breeze travels through the clearing and Deucalion’s nose flares and Stiles can only assume he’s scenting something, but he doesn’t expect that something to be him. Deucalion’s head twists towards him, and he tilts his head. Stiles feels Derek grip his hand tight enough to hurt, but Stiles barely registers this over his own panic bubbling up.

“Mm. I haven’t smelled magic like that in over a decade.” Deucalion takes his glasses off and shift doesn’t seem like the right word for it. The Hale pack watches in slight horror as this man, who calls himself “Alpha of Alpha”, distorts his face into something straight out of an episode of Buffy or Supernatural. It’s unlike any shift he’s ever seen and one he never wants to see again. Then when he opens his eyes it’s like Stiles is looking into pools of blood.

His voice echoes unearthly through the forest when he speaks, like it’s too big for these woods. “If young Derek here is the spitting image of his mother, then you, my boy, are a carbon copy of yours,  Mieczyslaw.”

 

Yup, here comes that panic attack.   
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprised to see an update so soon bc I am lol   
> Also, your guesses in the comments are very warm, almost hot.  
> Next time in NTLTL: We'll get into wtf is wrong with Scott and a bunch of other stuff.


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our babies put communication into practice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All the spelling and grammar mistakes are mine. I hope there's not too many.

Stiles has been through a lot tonight. He and his frenemy slash boyfriend’s estranged pseudo son chased his ex-best friend through the woods where they got their asses handed to them. He’s also pretty sure his ex-best friend is possessed, but he can only tackle one problem at a time. The problem he has right now is that he’s trying really hard not to have a panic attack in front of these alphas, one of which is “blind” and somehow knows his given name. They’re all watching him, the pale, lithe(not skinny, thank you very much) boy with scrapes all over himself, spazz out.   
  
Derek is trying to get him to follow his breathing, but it’s not working. He thinks he hears Erica yell out his name, and oddly enough he thinks he hears someone shout Scott’s name. There’s a loud sound of leaves crunching under someone’s feet before him, but his eyes can’t focus enough to see who it is. Stiles suspects it’s one of the Alphas because he hears a multiple people growling around him. The boy clenches his eyes shut against the noise and Tries. To. Breathe.   
  
“Oddychaj, moim chłopcem.” “Breathe, my boy.” Stiles does the opposite and stops breathing after hearing a language he thought he’d never hear again unless it was a home video recording.   
  
“Teraz wypuść powoli.” “Now let it out slowly.” Stiles’ breath shudders as he exhales, and he opens his eyes and is face to face with Deucalion, who is thankfully wearing his human face at the moment.   
  
“How do you know- What- Who are you?” Stiles asks and Deucalion smiles softly at him, a stark difference from the smirk he had on a couple minutes ago. Then, in the blink of an eye Stiles is on his feet and Deucalion has his glasses back on.   
  
“Thanks.” Stiles says. Deucalion tips his head, and the young man sees that where the five other alphas were standing only two are still there. He looks around and sees the that two of them are standing in front of Isaac and Erica, Boyd is missing...and so is Scott. He sees the girl, Cora with a hand on Derek’s arm.   
  
“Well then!” Stiles starts and turns back to the head alpha. “Derek, shall we take this to your loft and continue this conversation there.” It wasn’t a question, and he’s sure he’s not the only one who picked up on it. “I assure you, before this night ends, everyone will get the answers they need.”   
  
Stiles looks at Derek and sees him nod at Deucalion. “Very well.” Deucalion replies, tips his head. “Oh, and it seems your beta’s chase was fruitless. We’ll go ahead of you while you wait for him. Boys, Coraline let’s be on our way. The twins walk to the man, and Cora kisses Derek’s cheek before joining them and all six of the alphas walk back and disappear through the trees in seconds.   
  
No one says anything for a couple minutes, until Boyd makes it back into the clearing to join them, without Scott.   
  
From there, things move smoothly for the first time all night. Almost everyone was in agreeance of heading back to the cars, Stiles made slight protest when Derek swiped his car keys and told Erica, Boyd, and Isaac to take the camaro (to which Isaac said no, loudly) while he would drive Stiles in the jeep.   
  
The walk back was quiet, awkward, and long. Too long. Stiles didn’t remember it taking this long when he was running for his life. Then again, adrenaline was pumping, and his ankle wasn’t sprained then. He’d ask Derek to carry, but his beau seems a bit tense, and he thinks both Isaac and Derek would object to the former carrying him again. This car ride is going to be awkward. He’s actually glad Lydia wasn’t here to witness what a fiasco tonight was. She’d probably call him an idiot or something, like that.   
  
“Stiles, you idiot!” Stiles meeps and manfully hides behind Derek. Lydia’s red fiat is parked right next to his, and she’s standing next to it glaring fiery daggers at him.   
  
“Lydia, goddess, how are you, love?” He says sheepishly to her because he has a feeling he knows how and why she found him. Stiles wasn’t kidding when he thought he was about to die earlier.   
  
She stalks forward, “Zip it! I hate it when you do this!” and tries grab him from behind Derek, but they end up just playing catch the mouse until Derek gets fed up with them running around him.   
  
“Lydia, there’s a pack of Alphas in town, and they’re meeting us at my loft now.” Stiles sees Lydia look stunned, before she looks at Stiles.   
  
“Is that why you look like you fell in a lawnmower?”   
  
Stiles rubs the back of his neck before answering. “Uh, that would be because of Scott. You know someone should fill you in on the way there. I can--”   
  
Isaac beats him to the punch. “That’s a good idea. Lydia let’s go.” Next thing Stiles knows, Isaac is in the passenger seat of Lydia’s car, and they’re driving away. He doesn’t miss the hurt that flashes on Boyd and Erica’s face before they do the same and leave in Derek’s car. Then there were two. They climb into the jeep and Stiles knows they can’t avoid talking about it, and he’d rather do it before they get home.   
  
“I just want to start off and say I didn’t plan on chasing Scott through the woods. Isaac came to me and said Scott was being weird, well weirder than usual, and we were just trailing him. Then, he went into the woods, then Isaac went into the woods, and then I went into the woods.” His body is angled toward the driver’s seat where Derek is sitting. “I should’ve called you the minute I suspected things going left, and I’m sorry that I didn’t.” He reaches out and places his hand on Derek’s, who in return laces their fingers together.   
  
Derek sighs and leans back in his seat. He stares at their linked hands and brings them to his lips. “You’re impulsive, loud, lack traits such as self-preservation, and a filter-” “Rude!” “And you’re passionate, protective, and so loving. So, I’m not surprised that you went out and did what you did. I’m mad because you got hurt, he hurt you, again.” Derek’s free hand hovers over the scrapes on Stiles’ face, and his eyes flash. “That will never be okay with me. I want to kill him for hurting you, but doing that will hurt you too.”   
  
“Sooo, you forgive me?” Stiles smiles hopefully. Derek tries to hide it, but Stiles sees his smile trying to come out. Derek leans in, his eyes on Stiles’ lips, but a hand to the face stops him in his tracks.   
  
“Yea, no. I don’t think so, buddy.” Stiles takes his hands from Derek’s and crosses his arms. “There will be no kissing or lip locking until you tell what an alpha pack is and who the hell is Cora?”   
  
Stiles watches Derek drag his hands down his face and growl softly. “The first time I heard about the Alpha pack I was in New York with Laura.” Stiles stays silent, so Derek continues on. “They were known for traveling territory to territory observing packs, making sure they were stable, and “fixing” the ones that weren’t.”   
  
“So they’re like gladiators.” He elaborates at Derek’s confused look. “You know, gladiators. Olivia Pope. Scandal. She’s a fixer” Nothing.   
  
“Anyways, they make themselves known when damage control is needed.”   
  
“When did they make themselves known in Beacon Hills?” Stiles asks.   
  
Derek doesn’t answer immediately. “A couple days before you told me about Scott.”   
  
“That was over 2 weeks ago!”   
  
“I know! Okay, I know. I thought--I don’t know what I thought alright.” Derek runs his hand through his hair, pulling on his strands. “They’ll do anything from killing unhinged betas,” he looks pointedly at Stiles, “to eradicating entire packs if they think it’s necessary.” Derek leans forward and folds over the steering wheel while the weight of his words settle in Stiles.   
  
“And Cora?”   
  
Derek chuckles morosely “Oh right, how could I forget. It’s not everyday you look into the face of your younger sister who you thought perished in a fire started by your psychotic ex-girlfriend.”   
  
“What!?” Stiles flails in his seat, injuries and soreness be damned. That was Derek’s sister! “How- but- how!? I saw the report, no one was listed missing.” Derek keeps silent.   
  
Stiles, for once, is speechless. On one hand, he is pretty upset that Derek kept some vital information from him. You would think the existence of an alpha pack would be something to be shared with loved ones, but no, not to Derek. On the other hand, it’s not everyday you find out you have a family member who’s alive when you thought they were dead. It’s with this thought Stiles drapes himself over his boyfriend’s back and pets any part of him he can reach. He hears Derek’s breath shudder out of and feels his body tremble beneath him.   
  
“If we knew or had any type of hint she was alive we would’ve found her or-or sent for her. God! She must’ve thought all of us were dead! I don’t know what to do about this, about the alphas-”   
  
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, big guy.” Stiles pulls Derek up and tucks the wolf’s nose into the crook of his neck. “We. Will. Get. Through. This. Okay? Like we always do.” He feels Derek’s shoulders loosen bit by bit. They’ll get through it, like they always do.   
  
  
  
  
  
When Derek felt good enough to drive, they started making their way to the loft. The pack had been texting incessantly until Stiles responded and said they were held up, but would be there soon. It was during the car ride that Stiles told Derek what happened Scott, and he got a little hairy at certain parts, but he couldn’t bring himself to tell Derek what Scott had said. If Stiles’ thinking was right then they had a bigger problem on their hands than they thought with Scott, but it’s probably that type of thinking that Derek had when he kept the knowledge of the Alphas a secret.   
  
So, here they are in the elevator on their way to the top floor for a meeting with the Alpha pack, and Stiles he’ll never say it out loud, but Derek was spot on about his lack of filter and his impulsiveness, he only forgot to mention his epic bad-timing.   
  
“Hey, Der.” Stiles draws out the nickname, and Derek who is leaning against the wall sighs, knowing this won’t be good. He rolls his head to look at the sheepish human and grunts for him to go on.   
  
“There’s something I left out about Scott and something he said in the woods.” They’re two floors away from theirs.   
  
Derek raises an eyebrow. “Can it wait--”   
  
“I think he’s possessed,” Stiles rushes out. Derek’s eyes widen as the boy’s words register, at the same time they’ve just passed the second to last floor. “By Gerard Argent.”   
  
The elevator doors open.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who's back, back again *music emoji*  
> You all pretty much guessed he was possessed lol by Gerard lol 
> 
> Next time in NTLTL: We find out if the Alphas are friend or foe. Also, the Sheriff will make his comeback. Maybe, a side of Jealous!Derek, perhaps...

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!  
> Let me know your thoughts!


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